Telehealth 2007 in Brussels next week

The European Commission Information Society & Media Directorate General hosts its annual telehealth conference in Brussels on Tuesday, 11 December.

Organisers told E-Health Europe: “The Conference aims to identify barriers to broad telemedicine development and concrete actions for the European Union institutions, member states, regions, industries, user organisations and other stakeholders in view of the upcoming communication on telemedicine and innovative technologies for chronic disease management.”

Keynote speeches at the event will come from Frans de Bruïne, a director for the European Commission Information Society & Media Directorate General and Dr Daniel Mart, a director of the EU’s standing committee of European doctors (CPME).

Gérard Comyn, head of the ICT for Health unit at the European Commission Information Society & Media Directorate General will conclude the day-long conference.

At the conference, the commission will announce the interim results of the telemedicine and innovative technologies for chronic disease management public paper in a bid to gather telemedicine expertise from all member states.

The questionnaire responses have helped to formulate the structure of the TeleHealth 2007 conference and the way in which the national problems will be taken on board. The full conference programme can be found here.

The commission plans to publish in October 2008 a communication on ‘telemedicine and innovative technologies for chronic disease management’.

Twelve suppliers are also scheduled to give talks at the conference. Full information can be found at here, along with details of how to register.

“Europe is facing the challenge of delivering quality healthcare to all its citizens, at an affordable cost. The increasing demand by citizens for best quality healthcare, the costs of managing chronic diseases, and the need for prolonged medical care for an ageing society are major factors behind this challenge,” the EC says.

The conference is taking place in the Breydel building of the European Commission headquarters on 11 December.

Joe Fernandez