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Throughout the EU, Member States are looking for ways to provide patient-centred care to maximize clinical outcomes and improve cost-effectiveness for healthcare systems. For many countries, this means re-organisation of how care is delivered and in some cases general cost-cutting to sustain the system. So, when policymakers are faced with difficult decisions about how to maintain quality of care within a resource constrained system why is it that they should care about dialysis?

Mobile health solutions for collecting patient data via communicating medical devices are opening new possibilities for remote monitoring and management of individuals suffering from chronic illnesses. At the same time, the ‘quantified self’ has gained increasing mass market appeal through the availability of personal, connected devices that can track human physical activity.  These are resulting […]

The prevailing thought still today is that medtech is driving rising healthcare expenditure. More and more research and publications are finding this not to be the case. The medtech industry is happy to have a fair and balanced discussion on the value of its products, but to do so, everyone must look beyond tomorrow, beyond […]

I just read the minutes of the joint meeting EDMA, Eucomed, COCIR and EUnetHTA had last May and it got me thinking: why try to put a square peg in a round hole? Medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, imaging equipment and pharmaceuticals – while all health technologies – are very different in nature, in their mode of action, in the benefits they bring to people’s health and well-being, and in the way they contribute to sustainable healthcare. Because of these and many more differences, trying to apply a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) model designed for pharmaceuticals to other health technologies is like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole – it won’t work.

The terms “colostomy”, “ileostomy”, and “urostomy” are not well known terms to the general public outside of the patients who need these surgical procedures in order to survive. Ostomy care following surgery is not sexy and not easily discussed publicly, given that such surgeries involve changing the manner in which people eliminate fecal or urinary waste from their bodies.

We recently read the blog post “Improving access to medical technologies for diabetes care in Europe” from the International Diabetes Federation Europe assessing issues in terms of access to medical technologies for people with diabetes. As a producer of technologies and devices for people with diabetes, we keep learning and, when necessary, adapting our practices to fill in the gaps highlighted by IDF Europe.

“How much is my life worth?” Patricia Garcia-Prieto, professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and a mother of six and 11-year olds has asked this question multiple times. In her video, as a patient representative on a panel, she has been vocal about this thought that passed her mind every day. […]

According to EDMA’s 2012 European In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) Market Statistics Report, the in vitro diagnostics market in Europe has decreased 2.2% in 2012. These results had been predicted in the previous EDMA report released for 2011, given austerity measures to cut costs in health expenditure. However, a decline in revenue for IVDs might have bad effects in the health of Europeans: there is good reason to believe that governments should invest in IVDs when trying to save money in healthcare.

Europe’s medical device industry has always agreed that Europe’s regulatory system for devices needs to be improved and has put forward various proposals to achieve this. In the wake of a case of fraud like the PIP breast implant incident, it is clear that we need a safer system that makes sure Europe’s patients continue to have timely access to the latest life-saving and life-enhancing medical technologies.