Digital

For the past two years, I have been working with great passion on the subject of mobile health (or mHealth), having set up the global mHealth programme of the GSMA – the organisation that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. I am therefore very pleased that the momentum for mHealth has really been building.

Two weeks ago I attended the eHealth 2012 conference in Copenhagen, along with 2 500 other delegates, policy makers, providers, industry and many others. Coming out of there, my strongest take-away is the amazing opportunities innovation in technology can bring -for patient empowerment, improved health and more efficient provision of care – and the frustratingly slow pace at which it is being adopted in the health care system.

eHealth is booming, hospitals, doctors, clinics, SMEs, big companies, everybody seems to be developing an app nowadays. It is great to see how many people are throwing their weight behind eHealth initiatives in every possible way: remote monitoring of demented senior citizens by means of image interpreting software, decision support systems, …, you name it. […]

When health and technology go hand in hand, safe, efficient and cost-effective solutions are often the result. Realising the immense potential that these two fields possess if they are well attuned to one another, the Commission is focussing a lot of its attention on eHealth and the benefits that these exciting technologies can bring. But not only the Commission is showing increased interest – people are talking about it, thinking about it or working with eHealth technologies.

Eucomed has recently submitted remote monitoring of implantable cardiac devices as one of its four proposals to the Active and Healthy Ageing Innovation Partnership under the European Commission’s Innovation Union Strategy. Such an initiative is exactly what Europe is in need of to ensure its place at the top of the innovation ladder. Eucomed selected […]

Yesterday afternoon I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in a round table discussion organised by Motorola as part of the EU Open Days conference organised by the Committee for the Regions. Entitled ‘ EU Wide Patient Safety – A Roundtable to demonstrate ways of overcoming barriers to adoption in healthcare using innovative […]

‘Never knowingly under sold’ is a slogan that one major UK retailer has been using more or less continuously since 1925. I have never quite understood what it means. E-heath and telemedicine have been touted as the key to disruptive change in healthcare for a very long time. I recall spending an entertaining four days […]

Sitting on the tram this morning, flicking through my e-mails and preparing for the busy day ahead, I began to muse on the incredible impact that information technology has had on my life. Doing this sort of communication was inconceivable even when I had my first management role. My own personal secretary was highly skilled […]