Tech Talks Central

We discuss with Dr. Alexander Hoerbst, Head of the eHealth Research & Innovation Unit at the University of Health Sciences in Austria, interoperability needs on a European and national level; why he considers the EU framework a good base to start from and what organisations need to do in order to help companies comply with the European Interoperability Framework. He suggests actions for eHealth companies in order to compete in international markets and mentions the three basic outcomes from the STOA eHealth meeting held December 1st, 2015. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

We discuss with Dr. Philip Sotiriadis of Telematic Medical Applications and Telematic Global Medical Applications, about his companies' services providing home care and marine telemedicine applications. We talk about how the profound technological advances in health continue to depend on the human factor, whether it’s the medical personnel handling the technology or the patients willing to be treated remotely. Dr. Sotiriades talks to us about his future work partnering with NASA and Dr. Perichles Papadopoulos of Stanford to obtain patents for new wearable devices that read and measure vital signs, and his ongoing projects to use micro satellites to provide networks for distant and remote areas with no infrastructure. He explains his company's goal to provide access to help treat people who would otherwise have absolutely no medical access and also the importance of using technology to remotely provide the knowhow and assistance needed to help prevent the spreading of deadly contagions, like Ebola. Finally, we conclude on where the field stands in terms of legislation, government oversight and how ready patients really are to give up there facetime with a doctor and opt for remote consultation and treatment. Interviewed by Venetia Kyritsi for Tech Talks Central.

Lorenzo Pengo, Director for Healthcare Industry at Microsoft Central-Eastern Europe HQ presents MS’s idea for a healthier future for all of us; influenced by the power of two elements: mobility and cloud computing, that are already creating new and quite interesting scenarios, altering how the eHealth industry works. The three pillars supporting the new era are personalized computing; collaborative environment; and services in the cloud; supported by big data centers at a much lower cost towards the Health industry... which constantly tries to provide more with less. He concludes that Augmented Reality and 3D applications along with devices like Hololens, may bring radical changes to the health sector in the forthcoming years. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Claudio Saccavini, Technical Manager of Consorzio Arsenal.IT, describes the efforts of Veneto region (i.e.NE Italy) to implement an e-prescription project and act as a (very succesful, up to now) pilot for the whole country, scheduled for adoption in January 2016. He cites the three goals of this system (similar to the ones implemented in Greece, Spain and UK - only four countries in EU have a running e-prescription system) which are to ensure that the right drug is being prescribed; to reduce the waste of drugs; and -of course- to save money. He also invites Greece to join Italy in an initiative to open their systems to the millions of tourists visiting the two countries, every year. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Brian O’Connor, Chair ECHAlliance

Catherine Chronaki, Secretary General at HL7 International Foundation

George Crooks, Medical Director for NHS24

Alexander Berler, HL7 Chair for Greece

A recent Imperial College of London study showed that a number of NHS approved apps, while sending out data to associated services, 33% of them were doing so without encrypting their data. This is a security threat invoking identity theft plus privacy issues. Does the EU need a medical software certification strategy and if so, who should implement & enforce it?

Marc Lange, Secretary General for EHTEL, the European Health Telematics Association talks about why we need interoperability in eHealth, why standards are important and whether we need medical software certification for apps. He also talks about what competitive advantages European eHealth companies have in order to compete in the global market. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

George Dafoulas, internal medicine resident at the University of Athens, talks about how they used data from one of the largest e-prescription databases to develop epidemiology outcomes, and correlations with other diseases, concerning three specific non-biased chronic diseases. With the use of a university grant they analysed the Greek e-prescription data, which includes over 98% of local residents, developing one of the first large epidemiology studies in Europe. He and his team plan to continue developing their algorithm and methodology, well into the future. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Jose Costa Teixeira, an expert in eHealth and EU projects explains what interoperability and standards mean in practical terms for health software and why they’re crucial. He talks about what are the competitive advantages of European eHealth companies; including multilingual environments and diverse health infrastructure systems, that can lead to new innovations. He analyses which apps should be considered medical devices and what kind of medical software certification we need. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Dr. Clemens Auer, policy maker and Director General of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health, talks about Austrias Health Strategy; the procedures they tackled in order to bring Austria to the forefront of eHealth in Europe, including the electronic health record and e-card. He mentions how they have complied with internationally recognised standards and how they learnt from other countries practices, implementing a comprehensive system. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Richard Bergström, Director General, of EFPIA explains why pharmaceuticals need data to analyse people’s habits and drug intake, in order to innovate and develop newer and better drugs. He talks about the effect of the economic crisis on pharmaceuticals and analyses how the global pharma canvas is set. Of course we didn’t lose the chance to ask his opinion on Shkreli / Daraprim and the Golden Ticket concept (priority review voucher), the FDA offers to stimulate rare disease drug research and whether it could be implemented in Europe. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.