eHealth Week 2011 to Focus on Cost and Quality Benefits of IT Solutions in Healthcare

The European eHealth Sector's "Event of the Year" will Take Place in Budapest, Hungary; May 10-13, 2011

BRUSSELS and BUDAPEST, Hungary, November 22, 2010 - Political leaders, Hospital and IT Leadership from across Europe will
come together at eHealth Week 2011 in Budapest (May 10-13, 2011) to advance
the continent's digital health infrastructure. The four-day event will
feature educational sessions, an exhibition, workshops and many networking
opportunities. For the first time ever, eHealth Week will feature symposia on
innovation-rich subjects such as Ambient Assisted Living; Health 2.0 and a
Leaders in Health IT (LHIT) symposia for hospital IT Directors. eHealth Week
2011 is co-organised by the European Commission (EC), HIMSS Europe
(Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Europe) and the
Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

"Latest research indicates that 29 percent of EU citizens will be over 65
years old in 2050. And we have been battling the deepest financial crisis in
decades. The grand theme of our time is the need to do more with less.
eHealth is one of the best ways to face these challenges," says Neelie Kroes,
Vice-President of the European Commission and its Commissioner for Digital
Agenda. "The European Commission has therefore put key actions on eHealth[1]
on its Digital Agenda for Europe - which forecasts an increase of public
investments[2] to 11 billion Euros funding to research and innovation. These
key actions are some of the initiatives to be discussed at eHealth Week in
Budapest."

The European Commission has funded eHealth research with more than 1,182
billion Euros for more than 20 years and has supported more than 450
projects.through its different framework programmes[3], establishing Europe
as the global leader in the field. [4]

"We are looking forward to welcoming the delegates and visitors of
eHealth Week to Budapest in the spring of 2011," says Hungarian Minister of
State for Health, Dr. Miklós Szócska. "The health sector policies of the
Hungarian presidency will focus on developing sustainable systems responding
to social needs. We will underline the use of structural funds to modernize
the healthcare infrastructure, as well as the importance of evidence based
health policy decision making. We will discuss how the expanding human
resources crises could be approached at EU level under the circumstances of
increasing professional and patient mobility, demographic aging and
tightening resources. Further on, we will propose closer cooperation on
childhood immunization policies across EU member states and pay special
attention to migrants' children. In all of these fields, eHealth plays a
crucial role."[5]

Hungary will take over the rotating EU Presidency role from Belgium in
January 2011.

Jeremy Bonfini, Senior Vice President for Global Services at HIMSS Europe
said: "E-Health solutions can now provide care from the hospital to the home.
It is the only way to reduce the strain on financial and human resources in
healthcare - which is a major issue as nations struggle to recover from a
major financial crisis. The role for eHealth in times of austerity will be a
core topic of eHealth Week 2011 - to be addressed at the Integrating the
Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Showcase and at the World of Health IT industry
exhibition."

The European eHealth market is currently estimated at around EUR15
billion and growing at an annual rate of 2.9%. Among the companies that have
already confirmed their participation in the eHealth Week 2011 industry
exhibition are AGFA Healthcare, EPIC, Hitachi Data Systems, InterSystems,
Microsoft and Oracle.

eHealth Week 2011 will bring together key stakeholders from Europe's
healthcare, from the policy makers, to providers, insurances, research
facilities, vendors as well as patient associations. It will host the eHealth
Government Initiative, a formal body of healthcare state secretaries aimed at
aligning national eHealth systems in Europe. The last edition of eHealth Week
in March 2010 in Barcelona was attended by more than 3,000 delegates and over
100 industry exhibitors, making it the largest pan-European eHealth event
ever. For more information please visit www.worldofhealthit.org.

Learn more about the European Commission - ICT for Health

ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/health/index_en.htm

ec.europa.eu/dgs/information_society/index_en.htm.

Learn more about HIMSS Europe

www.emea.himss.org

[1] Digital Agenda for Europe chapter 2.7.2. from page 29

[2]
ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/benchmarking/index_en.htm

[3] cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/

[4] 20 Years of European Commission's support to the development of
eHealth

[5] eHealth is Worth it: The economic benefits of implemented eHealth
solutions at ten European sites, Karl A. Stroetmann, Tom Jones, Alexander
Dobrev, Veli N. Stroetmann à See example on page 43

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paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove
the space if one exists.)

    For further information please contact:

    HIMSS Europe
    Christina Roosen
    croosen@himss.org
    T: +32-2-793-7633

    European Commission
    Corinne Wenner
    corinne.wenner@ec.europa.eu
    T: +32-2-296-4194

    IT communication (agency)
    jmiglesias@itcomunicacion.com
    T : +34-93-362-10-34

    so2say communications (agency)
    armin.scheuer@so2say.com
    T: +49-30-2191-3610

For further information please contact: HIMSS Europe, Christina Roosen, croosen at himss.org, T: +32-2-793-7633; European Commission, Corinne Wenner, corinne.wenner at ec.europa.eu, T: +32-2-296-4194; IT communication (agency), jmiglesias at itcomunicacion.com, T : +34-93-362-10-34; so2say communications (agency), armin.scheuer at so2say.com, T: +49-30-2191-3610