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ConhIT 2008
Held this April in Berlin, this event aims to become an important venue for healthcare IT in Germany. Guido Gebhardt reports
From 2004-07, VHitG (Verband der Hersteller von IT-Systemen im Gesundheitswesen) and Messe Frankfurt jointly organised ITeG (IT-Messe und Dialog im Gesundheitswesen).
Raimund Hosch, CEO of Messe Berlin, emphasised the exchange character of the conhIT concept: Due to the timing of trade fair, congress and academy exhibitors as well as visitors had time to collect and exchange information. Therefore, conhIT could become, as he put it, ‘step by step an important event in Europe’.
At the opening session, Dr Klaus Theo Schröder, State Secretary with the German Federal Ministry of Health, announced the next roll-out phase for the electronic patient record (EPR). ‘In the second half of 2008 we want to deploy card readers, as well as cards, so that we can realise the full potential of the system’, he explained.
Peter Waegemann, CEO of the Medical Records Institute in Boston, demonstrated that even the rather unsexy issue of the EPR can be presented with wit and verve. In the USA, he explained, EPRs on a cell phone, or as xml file, and telemedical therapies, or computer-assisted medicine, are a reality. The major goal must be the introduction of computer-controlled therapy support, he added. A physician can no longer exclusively rely on things learned in medical school, or from experience. New medical knowledge springs from a wide variety of sources, ‘We have to move away from intuitive treatment to healthcare that is science and computer-based,’ he urged. In e-healthcare, doctors and nurses worldwide will have access to patient data. ‘Today,’ he added, ‘this is impossible because we are dealing with data silos that are not networked. We must ensure treatment continuity by offering the EPR.’ In the USA, a data standard has been introduced: Continuity of Care Record (CCR). It provides encrypted data sets in xml, which contain data on previous therapies, medication and a list of physicians the patient has seen. A patient can call up his CCR data sets by cell phone and forward them to a physician. ‘Sooner or later, we will all have a digital patient companion,’ he concluded.
In terms of issues and content, conhIT 2008 struck a high level. So why was there so little interest among healthcare IT professionals? Since neither the venue nor the organisers appear to be the problem, VhitG may want to reconsider its dates. In Germany, a major portion of healthcare IT investments currently go to radiology. In March, ECR (European Congress of Radiology) in Vienna was on the agenda; in May the German Radiology Congress (DRK) will take place. Four weeks later is the Hauptstadtkongress. In 2007, there was also CARS. So, within a few weeks, five healthcare IT congresses were scheduled. Even if the focus of events is different – the targeted users are always identical.
This article was published on 04/30/2008