BERLIN, February 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

HIMSS Europe, the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society, is organising a new edition of the World of Health IT (WoHIT), taking place in Nice, France from April 2^nd to 4^th. This is where European e-Health leaders and professionals will discuss how IT can improve the safety and quality of patients' care. In this sense, one topic in particular is creating a high expectation and wider interest: the Continuum of Care.

The continuity of care is concerned with the quality of care over time. There are two important perspectives surrounding this. Traditionally, the continuity of care is idealized in the patient's experience of a 'continuous caring relationship' with an identified health care professional. For providers in vertically integrated systems of care, the contrasting ideal is the delivery of a 'seamless service' through integration, coordination and the sharing of information between different providers. The continuity of care may be viewed from the perspective of either a patient or provider and for that reason WoHIT is the place for the ehealth community both professionals and industry.

The sessions about continuity of care at WoHIT

Friday 4^th April | 9am - 9.45am |

Plenary session: Continuity of Care Maturity Model

Moderator:    Daniel Forslund, Chief Strategy Officer at Vinnova, Sweden.

Presenter:    Uwe Buddrus, Senior Consultant, HIMSS Europe, Germany.

Participants: Johan Krijgsman, Senior Consultant, Nictiz, The Netherlands.

              Terje Wistner, CIO, Norwegian Pharmacy Association, Norway.

HIMSS Europe is presenting the Continuity of Care Maturity Model, which evaluates various aspects of delivering continual care covering both capabilities at organization and pan-organization levels. The Model will measure the readiness of an organization to deliver continuity of care as well as the maturity of a healthcare system in the continuity of care delivery. There will only be a global model but regional specifications are possible within the model's framework.

Thursday 3^rd April | 10.30am - 11.15am |

Parallel session: Cross institutional access to patient data for continuum of care.

Speakers:    Pille Kink-Ilves, Standardisation Manager, Estonian e-Health Foundation.

             Dr. André Vandenberghe, CHU Charleroi, Belgium.

Pille Kink-Ilves is one of the most experienced e-Health experts in Estonia. Her presentation will give an approach to the Estonian Nationwide Health Information System, that brings together a range of medical data, requiring a broad consensus to ensure information is timely and accurate. Data is available for in- and outpatient care summaries, prescriptions and medical images. Patients have access to the same amount of information as the medical personnel. 

Dr. Vandenberghe is a medical doctor specialized in IT. Since 2000, he's been head of the Medical Information Department of the CHU of Charleroi. He leads the Walloon Regional Healthcare Network. His presentation will be focused on the Walloon Healthcare Network, an initiative of the Walloon physicians to organise the sharing of patient information with minimal centralisation of data. It will show its integration in the complex Belgian model which illustrates the challenges that Europe would face implementing an ehealth network.

About World of Health IT: http://worldofhealthit.org/2014intro/

For further information:
IT Comunicación
Josep M. Iglesias / Loida Lleonart
jmiglesias@itcomunicacion.com / llleonart@itcomunicacion.com
T: +34-93-362-10-34

SOURCE HIMSS Europe