Digital Health Week and COCIR eHealth Summit
Date
15 Dec 2016
Sections
Health & Consumers
InfoSociety
BRUSSELS – 15 December 2016: The 3rd Annual COCIR eHealth Summit took place under the umbrella of the European Commission’s European Summit on Digital Innovation for Active and Healthy Ageing, in partnership with the European Association Working for Carers (Eurocarers) and the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC).
As a strategic partner of the 2nd European Summit on Digital Innovation for Active andHealthy Ageing, COCIR Secretary General, Nicole Denjoy spoke on behalf of Europeanindustry at the Global Innovation Forum on 5 December. This event was organised by theEuropean Commission, building on the G7 Ministerial meeting of ICT Ministers in Japan.
On 6 December, the Commission presented the ‘Blueprint on Digital Transformation ofHealth and Care’, along with Blueprint “Champion” organisations. These included COCIRmembers Agfa Healthcare, Philips and Orange as well as professional organisations, publicauthorities and civil society. Ms Denjoy also took part in the plenary session with otherBlueprint Champions and representatives from the Commission, to discuss how to deliverthe Blueprint vision and goals. Later, along with other partners of the InnovationPartnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA), COCIR attended the awardCeremony for the 74 European Reference Sites.
On 8 December, the 3rd COCIR eHealth Summit heard from high-level speakers andparticipants with insights on the value of Digital Health. They described how it supportsintegrated and patient-centric care, and the challenges of measuring its impact. In hisopening remarks, Commissioner Andriukaitis highlighted digital technologies as providingnew tools for modernising health systems. Commenting on the importance of integratedcare, he said; “Integrated care is fundamental in pursuing successful health systemreforms. I emphasise the need for a holistic approach, based on the real needs of citizens. This should focus not only on prevention and keeping people in good health but also on preserving their autonomy and functional capacity.”
Other speakers shared their insights on integrated care pathways, the potential of big data analytics and scaling up digital innovation across health systems to enable care coordination. There was also a panel discussion on the Blueprint’s vision, goals and the short and medium term priorities, as well as how Digital Health can help provide holistic, responsive care to a constantly growing ageing population. They also shared best practices in integrated care and reflected on effective approaches for working together and reconciling health strategy, organisation, processes, people and eHealth tools. Participants highlighted the importance of meeting user expectations, developing better business models and measuring the value of technology in terms of health outcomes, including patient reported outcomes and patient experience.
Reflecting on current trends, Paul Timmers, Director of the Digital Society, Trust & Cybersecurity Directorate at DG Connect, emphasised how the health and care community is increasingly seeking to partner with the digital sector to drive this transformation.
During the Summit, COCIR launched two eHealth papers, on Big Data Analytics and Integrated Care Workflows. These set out the opportunities and challenges for using the data analytics and technology to improve health systems performance and patients’ experience, advance biomedical research and deliver truly integrated care.
Nicole Denjoy, COCIR Secretary General, stressed that “In line with the Blueprint’s philosophy, as a partner of the multi-stakeholder Integrated Care Alliance and Blueprint Champion, COCIR is committed to working with other organisations to advance integrated and patient-centric care models, building multi-stakeholder partnerships for advancing integrated and patient-centric care models. For 2017 and beyond, we are committed to working with the Reference Sites and other stakeholders to deliver innovative Digital Health interventions at scale”. She added, “Along with our members and partners, we seek to use existing insights to build a framework for policymakers and stakeholders that helps implement their digital health strategies. This will create the political will and future leadership to drive investment across the health value chain and in digital health innovation.”
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*COCIR is the European Trade Association representing the medical imaging, health ICT and electromedical industries. Founded in 1959, COCIR is a non-profit association headquartered in Brussels (Belgium) with a China Desk based in Beijing since 2007. COCIR is unique as it brings together the healthcare, IT and telecommunications industries.
For more information, contact:
Nicole Denjoy
COCIR Secretary General
Tel: +32 (0) 2 706 8961
Colin Mackay
COCIR Communications Senior Advisor
Tel: +32 (0) 473 43 07 52