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Med-e-Tel 2009 (1-3 April) approaching
This newsletter is your source for Med-e-Tel updates, news from the Med-e-Tel partners, sponsors, exhibitors and speakers, as well as other telemedicine and ehealth news from around the world.
Yes, Med-e-Tel is approaching! In less then two weeks from now, Med-e-Tel 2009 will open its doors to participants from some 50 countries around the world. Healthcare providers, healthcare insurers, industry representatives, researchers, government officials will come together to meet, share, learn, network and do business. There is still time to join them. Register in advance (before March 24th) and simply pick up your entrance badge upon arrival at Med-e-Tel. Click here to go to the online registration form. Hotels can also still be booked via the services of the Luxembourg Convention Bureau ( click here for info and reservation form). Note that several hotels are now fully booked and some are not able to provide rooms at the preferential rates anymore (this will be confirmed before processing a reservation).
In this issue of the Med-e-Tel newsletter you can find more details of the TEN4Health and NETC@RDS workshops at Med-e-Tel, news and information from some of the Med-e-Tel sponsors, details of an ISfTeH videoconference session at Med-e-Tel, and a preview of an ITU presentation that is scheduled in the Med-e-Tel 2009 opening session. Full program details are available on the Med-e-Tel website.
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Featured Partner
Meet the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH) at Med-e-Tel.
The ISfTeH stand in the Med-e-Tel expo area will feature information about the Society and several of its member associations and institutions. Visit us there!
Meet members from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, DR Congo, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, UK, Ukraine, USA, as well as representatives from a few of our current working groups such as the "Telenursing WG", "Students WG" and "Education WG".
ISfTeH is hosting the Med-e-Tel Opening Session on April 1st. Sessions on "International Telemedicine and eHealth Initiatives and Developments" are scheduled on April 2nd and 3rd. The ISfTeH Telenursing WG is presenting a session on "Telenursing" (April 2nd). And the ISfTeH Student WG organizes the "Student Videoconference Session - Promoting Telemedicine/eHealth Practice" on April 3rd (see also article in this newsletter).
ISfTeH members are invited to the ISfTeH Breakfast Meeting at Med-e-Tel on April 2nd (08h00-09h30). An informal opportunity to network with your peers and to tighten the ISfTeH network.
Also the ISfTeH Board of Directors is meeting at Med-e-Tel in the afternoon of April 1st.
Med-e-Tel works together with a distinguished academy of organizations, associations and institutions who are active in the fields of ehealth, telemedicine, and health ICT.
Click here for a full list of supporting organizations and partners. |
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Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors 
Click here for a list of additional Med-e-Tel 2009 exhibitors and sponsors. |
Featured Media Partners
Established in 1999, ArabMedicare is a regional web portal aimed at healthcare professionals from government, business, and academia with over 1.8 million visitors per year from over 120 countries. Providing Market Intelligence Services (Arab healthcare market), Accredited Online Continuing Medical Education Courses, Medical News Syndication Services, Consultancy on the Arab Healthcare market.
Cambridge Healthtech Media Group publishes three eNewsletters: Bio-IT World Weekly Update, eCliniqua and Predictive Biomedicine in addition to the flagship publication, Bio-IT World magazine. We also offer two websites, bio-itworld.com and ecliniqua.com, where you will find informative and timely articles, the latest news, webcasts, white papers and featured content for the life sciences.
E-Health Europe is the independent news and business information source for Healthcare Information Technology across Europe. It is an English language service providing unbiased, incisive original news and analysis. The E-Health Europe portal provides coverage of key policy, technology and industry trends in the sector, including major national, trans-national and regional procurements, initiatives and projects.
European Hospital is a leading, pan-European professional healthcare magazine for medical directors, nursing directors, and hospital managing directors. We keep you up-to-date on trends and innovations in the healthcare market, on clinical research, and on the newest developments in medical technology.
Healthcare IT News Europe provides comprehensive, breaking news coverage of European healthcare IT developments. You will find updated daily news from an award-winning editorial team of U.S. and European-based correspondents, as well as headlines from other top IT Web sites. Sign up to receive Healthcare IT News Europe, a weekly e-newsletter delivered across the European continent to healthcare IT professionals.
SIR medical (the Swiss ICT Revue medical) is a specialised magazine for ICT and new technologies in medicine and the healthcare business. SIR medical also critically tackles questions on the development of e-healthcare.
TeleHealth World serves the rapidly expanding fields of telehealth, telemedicine and connected healthcare. It is a comprehensive news and analysis resource for healthcare providers and technology providers who are leading today's revolution in remotely monitored and administered healthcare, medical treatment and fitness/wellness enhancement. Subscribe to our free, monthly e-newsletter.
The Med-e-Tel media partnerships provide you with a look at a wide range of healthcare and medical journals, magazines and on-line news and information services that will help you to stay abreast of what is going on in the field of ehealth, telemedicine and healthcare IT and to make better informed decisions in your daily business or healthcare practice.
Pick up your personal copy of these publications in the Media Corner at Med-e-Tel 2009! |
Quick Links to recent newsletter articles...
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European services standard for cross-border healthcare provision agreed
The TEN4Health project has developed, piloted and implemented in a full operation mode IT-based services for cross-border healthcare provision in different European countries. Together with NETC@RDS , an agreement was achieved on a common European web service specification supporting standardised messaging to link hospitals and other health care providers with health insurance organisations and with national healthcare IT infrastructure.
The development of the services is seen as a major step towards full interoperability in web-services provision throughout European health care. The new services help ensure that any European citizen requiring healthcare in another European country can be served easily, that health care providers can reliably determine that a patient is covered by health insurance and rapidly receive reimbursement. For health insurance organisations offering these services, it is seen as a market discriminator, positively distinguishing them from competitors in the growing and increasingly competitive European health insurance market.
Five German insurance companies AOK Berlin, AOK Brandenburg, AOK Sachsen-Anhalt, AOK Schleswig-Holstein and AOK Westfalen-Lippe have in January 2009 joined AOK Rheinland / Hamburg and Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) in providing the new "TEN4Health GCE" cross-border web-based healthcare service. This decision increases the customer base for the AOK/TK service from 10 million up to 16 million customers.
The service - either as a web portal solution or based on web services - is currently offered through hospitals in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands and will soon be operational in Italy and the Czech Republic. To ensure the service remains full interoperable with others, it is now being adapted to use European service and message definitions proposed last year to European partners. This represents a very significant move towards a common European solution and standard for cross-border eHealth in Europe.
Program of the TEN4Health workshop at Med-e-Tel (April 2nd, 09h30-13h00):
Welcome and introduction: Online Cross-Border Healthcare Services in Europe
Pascal Collotte, European Commission, DG INFSO
TEN4Health: IT-based Citizen Services for Borderless Healthcare: From Web Portal to Web-Service Solutions
Heike Au, AOK Rheinland / Hamburg
ICT-Supported Solutions for Borderless Healthcare (5 case studies):
Cross-Border Health Services for Tourists in a Skiing Resort Using the TEN4Health GCE Web Portal Solution
Dr. Herbert Mayer, Krankenhaus Zell am See (Austria)
Fully Integrated Online Patient Verification and eBilling for Foreign Patients Supported through Web-Services - Experiences from an Austrian Hospital
Magister Karl Wulz, Karin Schl�ter, Asima Kadiric, Landeskrankenhaus Villach (Austria)
Web-Services-Based Cross-Border Healthcare - A Case Study from the Netherlands NN, CZ Actief in Gezondheid / VECOZO (The Netherlands)
TEN4Health IT-Based Cross-Border Service Solutions in Hospitals in Prague and Karlovy Vary via a Web Portal
Milan Ruzicka, IZIP, Prague (Czech Republic)
The EHIC Portal "AOK Europa" - A Web Portal Solution Offered by German Hospitals for Foreigners from all over the World
NN, AOK Rheinland / Hamburg, D�sseldorf (Germany)
Benefits of T4H Service Operations for Patients, Hospitals and Health Insurance Companies - The Business Case
Werner B. Korte, empirica (Germany)
Plenary discussion
Chair: Werner B. Korte, empirica (Germany)
Concluding remarks
Pascal Collotte, European Commission, DG INFSO |
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Program of the "NETC@RDS for electronic European Health Insurance Card" workshop
 The above mentioned TEN4Health workshop at Med-e-Tel will be followed by a NETC@RDS workshop on "Deploying eEHIC Services for Borderless Healthcare in Europe", thus offering a full day insight into the future of European cross-border healthcare services.
The program of the NETC@RDS workshop at Med-e-Tel (April 2nd, 14h00-17h30):
Welcome and Introduction
Roberto Zuffada, Regione Lombardia
Keynote Speaker
Milan Cabrnoch, Member of the European Parliament (TBC)
The NETC@RDS Contribution to the Access to Cross-Border Healthcare in the EU
Pascal Collotte, European Commission, DG INFSOo
The NETC@RDS Service Deployment
No�l Nader, NETC@RDS Project Coordinator, GIE SESAM-VITALE
The Reference Market: Users and Industry
Line Kleinebreil, AP-HP - Georges Pompidou Hospital
Rainer Baudermann, AOK Baden-W�rttemberg
Stefane Mouille, GEMALTO
The Technology Challenge
Guillaume Aflalo, GIE SESAM-VITALE
Pantelis Angelidis, CEN WS eEHIC
Round Table and Conclusion
Borderless Healthcare: From Strategies to Practices
Chair:
Marjan Suselj, ZZZS
Participants:
Paola Di Martino, Italian Ministry of Welfare, Health and Social Policies
Andreas Grode, CASSTM Ad hoc Group eEHIC
Eric Bruyneel, TESS Liaison Office (TBC)
Fredrik Linden, SALAR, epSOS Project Coordinator
Patrick Fortuit, French Council of Pharmacists, HPROCard Project Coord.
No�l Nader, GIE SESAM-VITALE, NETC@RDS Project Coordinator
George Pangalos, University of Thessaloniki, NETC@RDS Project
Nadine Fouques-Weiss, General Practitioner |
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Safeguarding IT and business continuity with escrow agreements  As an independent third party, Escrow Europe guards business-critical assets such as source code of software, important databases, passwords or industrial designs (escrow meaning "security in the hands of third parties").
Although well known and commonly used in the financial world, all kinds of other things can be treated within an escrow agreement as well, e.g. software, or production plans, or data; everything that is important between two different parties can be given in custody with a trusted third party. This trusted third party performs a very important role: it assures continuity by safeguarding the depot.
An example may show the relevance of a software escrow agreement:
The healthcare sector has definitely discovered IT and technology. With so-called e-health infrastructure, care can be provided from the most hidden place in the heart of Africa to the International Space Station. The working concepts are the same. Suppliers of this technology very often have an academic background - say university-spin-offs, business is far from established and consolidated. In fact it's an entirely new branch. We make it possible for suppliers to present themselves on the (world-)market. Regardless from their evolution, technology can be launched without any continuity risk. Investors can invest their money, knowing that at least the technology will remain if something goes wrong.
Another case, from the financial world: a bank works with an application that lasts already for many years, but now this application has to be modified. No-one, not a single person within the bank, has any information on the system. Everything has to be investigated from scratch. This means months of work. If there would have been an escrow agreement in place, the latest situation of the source code would have been present and documented, this would have saved tons of money. This bank now organizes escrow verification for it's most critical infrastructure every quarter of the year.
Every business/activity that is relying on technology should seriously be concerned about it's continuity, and should therefore consider escrow services.
These are simple but realistic examples of situations in which a good escrow service appears to be a perfect and very economic solution. Essentialy, a software escrow service means the following:
- safeguard the depot containing source code
- verification of the depot
- update the depot, at least once a year - software is a 'living' matter
- provide a sure, balanced and clear contract
Most traditional escrow-agreements are closed between three parties: user, supplier and escrow-agent. The three parties have their own rights and duties, whereas the duties of the supplier follow immediately after the closing of the contract, being creating a deposit that is conform to the agreement.
The escrow agent has the duty to guard, verify an organise the follow-up of the deposit.
The user can than be at ease: his continuity is secured. It's financial department will not be confronted with surprisingly high budget demands on behalf of the IT-department as a result of the disappearance of a software supplier. This risk is covered. Nevertheless, the user has to respect the ownership of the IP and the efforts delivered by both supplier and escrow agent.
Meet Escrow Europe representatives on the Med-e-Tel 2009 expo. Escrow Europe will also present about this in the local (BeLux) hospital administrator seminar that is being held at Med-e-Tel on April 2nd. Click here for more details about this particular seminar. |
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Long-term success in obesity treatment  Workaday programmes with medical/specialist supervision are becoming increasingly important for the growing number of people who have obesity or diabetes. Monitored participants receive a considerably wider range of support with improved quality and have a higher motivation due to everyday care. The success of the combination of telemonitoring and long-term coaching is shown by an obesity family study conducted by the Medical Department of the University of Magdeburg.
With the activity sensor AiperMotion, Aipermon - a supplier of telemonitoring and activity monitoring solutions - has developed a new medical measuring instrument. It enables the long-term measurement and assessment of the user's physical activity under everyday conditions and increases motivation to more activity.
Since medical information is highly sensitive data, keeping it confidential is a crucial requirement. Aipermon provides core competence in highly encrypted, protected and reliable data transmission. Aipermon also provides systems that are used in the field of blood pressure monitoring, congestive heart failure and diabetes.
More on the obesity study will be presented by Aipermon in the Med-e-Tel 2009 expo and in a presentation on "Telemonitoring for Obesity Therapy" that will be part of the Med-e-Tel conference program on Friday April 3rd. |
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Custom-oriented solution for the integrated electronic health record  An innovative patient centralized application has been developed by doctors for doctors and patients. It is based on a secure platform, which is interfaced with a user-friendly graphical interface. The medXchange application enables information related to medical metadata to be exchanged borderless between health professionals, who have be given specific access rights from the patient. The application, which is operated in collaboration with a well-established Swiss Trust Center, enables data to be exchanged in real time, worldwide, 24/7.
A sound balance between technology push and market pull has been a key aspect of the vision for the development of this application initiated some 10 years ago as a pioneering work to overcome barriers related to the non-availability of information to make the best medical decision in emergency cases.
The platform features logical interoperability, that is to say a logical structure which matches the culture, the semantics and the habits of caregivers. Practical use of the platform does show how successful the translation is of medical procedures in the medXchange application.
Access to an updated medical database can be made in real time from anywhere at anytime. Networking of caregivers at national or international, e.g. European, levels calls for multi-lingual use of IEHR (integrated electronic health record). The genuine platform of medXchange has therefore been extended for operation in English, German or French.
Meet medXchange at Med-e-Tel 2009 and find out more about their multilingual cross-border web-based Electronic Health Record with integrated telemedicine tools for diabetes and high blood pressure, second opinion, shared decision and registry for medical implants.
medXchange will be present at Med-e-Tel together with partner companies ICT SA (a Luxembourg company providing videoconferencing, VoIP and other ICT products and services) and Arpage AG (a leader in the area of software development and system design within the Swiss healthcare sector and core competencies in the field of data security, medical data infrastructure and medical distributed applications). |
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Implementing eHealth in developing countries  The potential benefits of eHealth applications in the provision of healthcare services are well known in developing countries. Bringing them into fruition, however, is a complex exercise requiring the definition of a national eHealth strategy that brings together different stakeholders.
At Med-e-Tel 2009, Marco Obiso of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will present an overview of the process of developing such eHealth strategies, emphasizing key principles that policymakers should follow, so that the selection of activities, technologies and applications for eHealth respond to national and international health priorities in the most efficient manner.
The role of ITU in supporting developing countries defining eHealth strategies will be also presented, as well as current ITU activities in the area of eHealth, specifically on m-health.
This presentation will be part of the Med-e-Tel opening session on April 1st. Another session (on April 2nd), presented in cooperation with the Expert Group on Question 14 "Telecommunication for eHealth", ITU-D Study Group 2, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), will focus even more extensively on the topics of "How to Implement eHealth Solutions" and "eHealth Master Plan Development". Med-e-Tel conference program details are available at www.medetel.eu. |
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Promoting telemedicine/eHealth practice: ISfTeH student's videoconference session
eHealth educational programs are becoming a reality in Universities, enabling health assistance to remote areas without the need for traveling, a better interaction between educators and students in difficult access areas such as operating theaters, and the continuous learning by health professionals with the use of multimedia material concerning specific health subjects.
The wide access to low cost telecommunication technology and computer systems by students, professors and health professionals was responsible for the development of new educational tools, among them eHealth education programs. This progress was possible due to the advances made in low cost video-conferencing, the capability of graphic computing software, the improvements in high speed computer communication networks and the enhancement of security protocols on the Internet.
The establishment of a Student Working Group within the ISfTeH (International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth) in 2007 was a step towards using the application of telecommunication technology and computer systems to promote the active participation of associated students during official ISfTeH meetings.
A first virtual session took place at Med-e-Tel 2008. The main objective of this new session format was to allow the remote presentation of student projects and research experiences in eHealth, using low cost Powerpoint or videoconference technologies.
The ISfTeH offered an award for the best virtual presentation by a student, to be used by the winner to cover part of the costs to attend a next ISfTeH event. In the 2008 edition of the Student's Virtual Session, five papers were presented remotely, by students from Brazil, Lithuania, Germany and India. Ricardo Cardoso, an Engineering student from PUCRS, Brazil, who presented an eHealth mission to the Brazilian Amazon Indians won the 2008 award, and as a result will be participating and presenting "live" at Med-e-Tel 2009.
The second ISfTeH Student's Videoconference Session will take place at Med-e-Tel 2009 on April 3rd.
Thanks to a new ISfTeH and Elluminate� partnership, several interesting e-learning and webinar tools were recently incorporated. These are expected to improve the quality of remote presentations, allowing full interactivity and dynamic discussions even in low bandwidth circumstances.
Through Elluminate� Webconference, 5 selected students will perform their remote presentations from different countries.
The session will feature presentations on the following subjects
- The Student eHealth League of PUCRS (LITESA)
- Establishment of a Multicentric Telecardiology Project in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil): A Report about Academic Participation
- ECG Teletransmission - Present and Future Possibilities
- Towards QOS-AWARENESS of Mobile Healthcare Services
- HON - Hungarian Oncology Network
More details are available on the Med-e-Tel conference program pages.
For more information on the ISfTeH Student Working Group, make a note to meet with the Working Group coordinators, Dr. Adolfo Sparenberg and Dr. Thais Russomano during Med-e-Tel. |
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Aerotel introduces advanced personal safety solutions in Switzerland
 Aerotel Medical Systems, leader in modular, mobile and home-based telemedicine and telecare solutions and GEBOA SA, a leading distributor of interactive easy to use reliable, and innovative mobile solutions and services for security, location and communication, have launched Aerotel's GeoSKeeper™ personal safety and location system in Switzerland under the brand name AlarmTouch™ GPS.
AlarmTouch™ GPS is a GPS-based personal telecare safety device, intended for seniors, children and lone workers. AlarmTouch™ GPS is distributed in Switzerland by GEBOA and is available in phone outlets and through some response centers across the country. The companies plan to introduce the products in France as well as in other markets in Europe.
"AlarmTouch™ GPS is taking Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) and social alarm systems, to the next level," said Ofer Atzmon, vice president for business development at Aerotel Medical Systems, "it can activate a warning signal or initiate a voice call in case of need, identifying the caller's location and enabling him or her to get immediate assistance." He added, "Our long-term cooperation with GEBOA has been most successful and we are very excited with the successful launch of our personal safety solutions in Switzerland."
"AlarmTouch™ and AlarmTouch™ GPS are innovative products suited for replacing the standard fixed systems installed in Switzerland, allowing mobility and localization of seniors people," said Dr. Georges Bongi, CEO of GEBOA. "We are very enthusiastic to work with Aerotel which is bringing such second-to-none solutions on the market at a very attractive price/performance point."
Get to know these and other Aerotel products and solutions at Med-e-Tel 2009. The Med-e-Tel conference program will also feature a presentation by Aerotel on "New Tele-Cardiology Service for the Regional Healthcare System in Finland". |
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Newsbriefs To follow are links to some interesting and recently published articles, studies, interviews and reports (if you would like to suggest an article for inclusion into a following newsletter, feel free to send details to [email protected]):
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