Keynote Speakers at eHealth Week 2011 Call for Significant IT Investments in the Health Systems of the Future

BUDAPEST, Hungary and BRUSSELS, March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Move From Hospital-centric to Community-wide IT Solutions Will Change the Patient Experience of Healthcare; Delegate Registration in Progress

eHealth Week 2011 (http://ehealthweek.org/), revealed today the list of keynote speakers who will address delegates at the "eHealth World-Cup", which is to be held in Budapest, Hungary on 10-12 May, 2011. Keynotes will be delivered by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, distinguished professor and Director at the Center of Complex Networks Research, Northeastern University and Department of Medicine, Harvard University; Prof. Eric Lepage, EPR Director at the Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP); Uwe Poettgen, Chief Information Officer at the Asklepios Hospital Group; and C. Martin Harris, M.D., M.B.A., Chief Information Officer at the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Madi Tiik, CEO, Estonian eHealth Foundation. On a political level keynote speeches will be held by Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and European Digital Agenda Commissioner, and Dr. Miklos Szocska, Minister of State for Health of the Hungarian Government in its role as the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Registration is now open at http://www.ehealthweek.org with Early Bird rates available before April 1st, 2011.

"eHealth Week is the one week a year where the eHealth community of Europe gathers to advance healthcare through IT," says Jeremy Bonfini, Executive Vice President for Global Services at HIMSS, who are co-organizing eHealth Week together with the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. "Keynote speakers at eHealth Week 2011 will emphasize on the role of technology in shaping up health systems of the future. They will discuss how to push information out into the 'eco-system': finding ways to move data from solely within the hospital out into the community, and from the GP's office, or even the home, to the electronic medical record (EMR)," Bonfini added.

eHealth Week is described as 'the World Cup of eHealth and healthcare IT'. All the main players in Europe will be there - many of them hosting satellite events and programmes around the main conference. A full overview of the speakers, participants and program as well as delegate registration is available at http://www.ehealthweek.org.

Selected keynote speeches:

PL1: Albert Laszlo Barabasi , distinguished Professor and Director, Center of Complex Networks Research, Northeastern University and Department of Medicine, Harvard University

In his opening key-note lecture Albert-Laszlo Barabasi will present the newest results of network research, a more and more popular tool for understanding complex systems from molecular to social level. This current scientific research trend discovers general rules of such systems including health systems and computer networks. His fertilizing ideas put new light on eHealth development and health policy making.

PL 2: Investing in health systems of the future

Uwe Poettgen, CIO, Asklepios Hospital Group, Germany The CIO of the largest private hospital chain in Europe will explore how we might expand hospital processes into telehealth processes and vice versa - and some of the obstacles, challenges and potential drivers of this process.

PL2: Shared services in healthcare: benefits of a nationwide eHealth platform

Dr Madi Tiik, CEO, eHealth Foundation Estonia Estonia now has two years' experience of a nationwide electronic health record (EHR) system. One year into this process, 80 per cent of prescriptions were digital. The CIO of the Estonian eHealth Foundation shares his vision of the successful electronic healthcare system of the future.

PL3: eHealth Governance Process

Clemens Martin Auer, Director General, Ministry of Health, Austria EU Member States have agreed to strenghen their cooperation in eHealth issues and a series of high level meetings (State Secretary and or Director General level) are taking place to agree on which areas such cooperation shall focus on. The next meeting will take place at the eHealth week. PL3 will allow you to listen to the latest progresses and decisions taken by them. Representatives of patients, professionals and industries are also associated to the initiatives and will be asked to comment on the progress.

PL4: Remote Monitoring - New opportunities for Chronic Disease Management

Martin R Cowie, European Society of Cardiology eHealth and telemedicine offer some solutions to the CDM challenge, for example through remote monitoring and telehealth hospitals and doctors can reach patients and their homes from a distance, even across national borders.

PL6: Pushing health information out of the hospital

Martin Harris, CIO of the Cleveland Clinic With a definite trend towards patient engagement, how do hospital leaders manage patient consent, security, and the flow of patient health information leaving the hospital? The CIO of one of the world's busiest hospitals asks if global internet portals will pave the way, or if hospitals and governments will have to build the necessary infrastructure?

For regular updates, please visit the http://www.ehealthweek.org; http://www.worldofhealthit.org and follow us on http://twitter.com/EU_ehealthweek

    
    For further information please contact:

    HIMSS Europe                     European Commission
    Christina Roosen                 Corinne Wenner
    croosen@himss.org                corinne.wenner@ec.europa.eu
    T: +32-2-793-7633                T: +32-2-296-4194

    IT communication (agency)        so2say communications (agency)
    jmiglesias@itcomunicacion.com    armin.scheuer@so2say.com
    T: +34-93-362-10-34              T: +49-30-2191-3610