507 results
Posted on 29.09.2009
The Netherlands top the table again!
The latest results of the Euro Health Consumer Index (www.healthpowerhouse.com) further confirm the superiority of Bismarckian social philosophy over the Beveridge approach, at least as far as the patient is concerned. Bismarck countries, characterised by compulsory third party insurance systems, feature as the most consumer friendly health systems from the perspective of the patient and […]
Posted on 04.09.2009
Two interesting healthcare documentaries
Watching TV the other night I came across an excellent set of ‘reportages’ into the health sector.
Posted on 22.07.2009
Credit default swaps and the real world
The arcane world of credit default swaps may seem a very curious subject to stimulate the mind of a life-long medical technology man. My thoughts turned to these strange and questionable instruments, which appear to be one of the roots of the financial crisis, during a week when they were seldom far from the front […]
Posted on 16.07.2009
Are we the problem or the solution?
Browsing the news pages of the web I came across an article in a journal that I am not familiar with from the USA, the grandly titled U.S. News & World Report. The report headed off on a familiar and now even more fashionable track of squarely identifying our industry as the villains of the […]
Posted on 08.07.2009
Creating a coordinated global platform to safeguard health development systems in the future
Talking about the role of the EU in the developing world EC Director General for Development Stefano Manservisi described the new approach to health development policy on a global level: “From donorship to partnership”. He explained that access to medicine needs to be viewed as not only provision of medicines but rather the ability to […]
Posted on 25.06.2009
Achieving health improvements inside and outside the boardroom
A crowded room at the offices of the European Policy Center yesterday afternoon. The topic of the day is “The future of medical devices in Europe”. The distinguished panel includes Josée Hansen, Pharm. D, project leader, Priority Medical Devices/ EHT, WHO-Geneva . Ms Hansen elaborated on the project’s approach, scope and objectives. In a nutshell, […]
Posted on 19.06.2009
Europe needs a highly competitive single market if it is to sustain our quality of life
Warm summer sunshine bathed the triumphal arch of the Parc du Cinquantenaire as colleague John Brennan and I walked down the tree-lined Avenue de Tervuren to attend sister organisation COCIR’s 50th birthday party. Highlight of a wonderfully sociable evening amongst a veritable “who’s who” of the medical technology industry in Brussels was an impassioned speech […]
Posted on 29.05.2009
2009 Hauptstadtkongress debates affordability of innovation for the German healthcare system
Is innovation still affordable with increasingly strained healthcare budgets? How can medical innovations continued to be financed? Panelist of the round table of distinguished speakers Member of the European Parliament Jorgo Chatzimarkakis made a statement which nicely complements the study released by AdvaMed only 2 days ago. He said that innovation does not increase costs […]
Posted on 29.05.2009
Is the German healthcare system setting the right incentives to provide the best patient care?
An exclusive roundtable hosted by Johnson & Johnson during this year’s Hauptstadtkongress debated the question whether the current healthcare system in Germany should compromise between the need to standardize treatments due to scarce resources and increasingly informed patients demanding the best treatment possible. Although panelists agreed that Germany may be leading in terms of standards […]