News

Strategic focus further developped

The 2nd meeting of the Executive Steering Committee (ESC) took place 14th and 15th April 2008 in Lund, Sweden. The members discussed the outlines of the network website in progress and the status of the projects under the umbrella of the eHealth for Regions network. Very important was the discussion about the strategic focus of the network: Which are the strategic implications for the network? What are the national eHealth strategies and how can we benefit from each other? What are the expectations of politicians regarding the benefit and results of our network? How can we disseminate in an effective way our activities and results?

Afterwards the participants of the meeting prepared the meeting of the Political Strategic Board of the eHealth for Regions network on 13 th October 2008 in Helsinki, Finland.

The next milestone will be the meeting of the Political Strategic Board on 13th October 2008 at Helsinki, Finland.

 

First meeting of the Executive Steering Committee

The Executive Steering Committee (ESC) of the eHealth for Regions network (eH4R network) met on 4th and 5th October at Gdansk, Poland, to discuss the future tasks and structures of the eH4R network and the next steps to do. All activities aim to successfully strengthen integrated regional health care structures in the Baltic Sea Region and to give a basis for innovative pilot actions and projects in transnational co-operation in the field eHealth. The members are

• Henning Bruun-Schmidt (Region of North Denmark, Denmark)
• Thorsten Beck (AOK Schleswig-Holstein, Statutory Health Insurance, Germany).
• Helli Kitinoja (Seinäjoki University of Applied Science, Finland)
• Domantas Stundys (Vilnius University Hospital, Lithuania)
• Andrzej Rynkiewicz (Medical University of Gdansk, Poland)
• Owe Svensson (Region Skåne, Management of the Health and Medical Services, Sweden).

 

International Conference in Bad Segeberg, Germany: "E-Health and medical technology of the future"

The third conference "E-Health and medical technology of the future" will be held on 12th of September 2007 in the Vitalia Seehotel in Bad Segeberg, Germany. Main topics are: "homecare: new developments in the domestic diagnosis - revolution of the medical supply?" and "future of the gene therapy".
The meeting is free of charge and suitable for doctors, health insurance funds, care services, etc.
For more information and registration:

• flyer (german only)
• poster (german only)

or contact:

Dr. Klaus Westphal
E-Mail: Klaus.Westphal@Kreis-Segeberg.de
Telephon: +49 (0)4551 951204

 

Final Conference „Cross-border eHealth in the Baltic Sea Region“

The final conference for „eHealth for regions“ was held in Stockholm on 21st and 22nd May 2007. The project ended on 6th June 2007. It was a joint conference with the EU-project “Baltic eHealth” where both projects presented the results of three years of work to an international audience. Topics were quality improvement, applications in cross-border eHealth, eHealth acceptance, its importance for rural areas and future perspectives.

You find all presentations and further information on the conference website www.ehealthconference.info.

Please note that the built network will be continued by an Executive Steering Committee and a Management Secretariat. More information soon.

 

eHealth network in Baltic regions will be continued

In the forerun of the eHealth conference in Stockholm a meeting of the Political Strategic Board (PSB) took place. On this meeting the PSB decided on continuation of the built network after the end of the funding project period on 6th June 2007. The political representatives signed an agreement to continue and develop the eHealth for regions network in order to strengthen integrated regional health care structures in the Baltic Sea regions. The partners are: Health Ministry of Lithuania and the regions Skåne (Sweden), South-Osthrobothnia (Finland), Pomerania (Poland), the Danish Regions (Denmark) and Schleswig-Holstein (Germany).

The network is intended to be a basis for innovative pilot actions and projects in transnational co-operation. From 1st July 2007 an Executive Steering Committee and a Management Secretariat will coordinate the activities of the partner regions to initiate further projects. The management secretariat will be hosted by the AOK Schleswig-Holstein (Thorsten Beck) and supported by Seinäjoki University, Finland (Helli Kitinoja).

 

Preparing the future ehealth network

The eHealth week took place in Berlin from 16th to 20th April 2007. Some project members participated at the eHealth conference supported also by the European Commission. The representative of the lead partner of the eHealth for Regions project, Thorsten Beck, held a speech about a web-based electronic health record.
In this framework the members of the eHealth for Regions project came together to lay ground for the future network co-operation after finalisation of the project. The steering committee members worked out proposals for the future cooperation in the international network after the end of the project on 6th of June. This proposals consist of an organisational and financial model and a network agreement. The Political Strategic Board (PSB) will decide on these proposals and sign the network agreement during their meeting in Stockholm 20th May 2007. Further more the project partners prepared the final conference „Cross-border eHealth in the Baltic Sea Region“ in Stockholm on 21st and 22nd May 2007, which will be held together with the sister project "Baltic eHealth".

 

Co-operation with TT-Line sets a new benchmark in transnational telemedicine

The TT- Line, one of the largest shipping companies in the Baltic Sea area, Segeberger Kliniken GmbH, Germany, and the Hospital Hässleholm, Sweden, have agreed on a co-operation.
The TT-Line equipped their six ferries with transtelephonic ECG devices and trained their personnel extensively. If necessary, the crew members can record and transmit a ECG by telephone via multilingual server in Bad Segeberg, Germany, to one of both heart centres connected to the “eHealth for Regions” network. There are cardiologists available day and night who make a diagnosis and recommend a treatment.
At expiration of the twelve month testing phase the additional service and safety for the passengers and staff of the TT-Line will be evaluated.
The ferries transport about 2,000 to 4,000 passengers every day between Trelleborg (Sweden) and Travemuende or Rostock (Germany).

A press conference will take place on 18th April 2007.

 

International Conference in Bad Segeberg, Germany: "E-Health and medical technology of the future"

The second conference "E-Health and medical technology of the future" was held on September 20, 2006 in the Vitalia Seehotel in Bad Segeberg, Germany. Key themes included the electronic health card, as well as new materials, methods and implants in medical technology. The conference was organised by the Health Region of Segeberg, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Lübeck, and the Chamber of Commerce Hamburg, with the aim of supporting regional networking and providing a discussion platform on future perspectives in this area.
The metropolis region of Hamburg is among Germany's leading locations for medical technology, and the Health Region of Segeberg also plays an important role in this regard. Our aim is to enable closer networking between companies, doctors, research institutions and other stakeholders in the health industry.
Titles and authors of the presentations:

1. Morton Elbaek Petersen: Sundhed.dk - The National Danish e-Health Portal
2. Bastian Klemke: The Electronic Health Card in Schleswig-Holstein (Presentation in German)
   
3. Wolfgang Rosenbauer: Secure Technology for the Electronic Health Card (Presentation in German)
4. Detlev Giesler: The Future of the Health Industry has Arrived: The Electronic Health Card (Presentation in German)
   
5. Dr. Johann Brunkhorst: Electronics for the Health Industry (Presentation in German)
6. Dr. Peter Gocke: E-Health and Medical Technology for the Future: epnet - The UKE Portal for Patients and Partners (Presentation in German)
   
7. Dr. Ralph Tölg: The Evolution of Coronary Stents and Associated Problems (Presentation in German)
   
8. Martin Jaschinski: The Use of Stents in Peripheral Blood Vessels: Development of New Materials (Presentation in German)
   
9. Dr. Andreas Brensing: Monitoring the Function of Mechanical Cardiac Valve Implants with a Home Monitoring System (Presentation in German)
   
10. Dr. Andreas Spiegelberg: New Materials and Manufacturing Procedures for Catheters and Implants for the Brain (Presentation in German)
    
11. Dr. Thomas Ebel: New Materials and Manufacturing Procedures in Medical Technology (Presentation in German)
    
12. Oliver Hennig: Products from ESKA Implants (Presentation in German)
    
13. Dr. Detlev Repenning: E-Health and Medical Technology in the Future: New Surface and Material Technologies (Presentation in German)
    

 

Political Strategic Board Meeting in Kiel: Perspectives of the future “eHealth for regions” network

From 26th to 27th of September 2006 the Political Strategic Board (PSB) of the eHealth for Regions project will meet in Kiel, Germany. The representatives of the highest political level in the Baltic Sea partner regions come together to discuss about the achieved results and to take decisions to ensure the sustainability of the international network. Thus one of the major aims of the meeting is to pave the way for the continuation of the network after the expiration of the 3 years project phase co-financed by the European Union.
Dr Hellmut Körner, State Secretary of the Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, the Family and Senior Citizens of Land Schleswig-Holstein, will welcome the board members in Kiel and open the political discussion about the future perspectives of the "eHealth for Regions" network. Henning Bruun-Schmidt, Denmark, and Thorsten Beck, Germany, will report on behalf of the project about the achievements so far and planned future activities on the basis of the eHealth for Regions network.
The guest speaker Ragnar Bergstrom, Scientific Officer of Unit ICT for Health, European Commission, will give an overview about eHealth in the European context and the Commission´s point of view. In addition Henning Voss, Danish Centre for Health Telematics, Denmark, will provide information about the status and perspectives of the project "Baltic eHealth". Both Interreg projects - "eHealth for Regions" and "Baltic eHealth" - are co-operating to promote together eHealth in the Baltic Sea region.

 

All relevant data on one stick

In autumn 2006 started an international pilot project testing an USB stick recording the patient’s medical data (Personal Information Medical Stick). This data storage medium will cover all important medical informations such as personal data, the address of the family doctor, chronic illness, anamnesis, medication and allergies.

When tourists are in need of medical attendance abroad, for example, and doctor and patient do not speak the same language, such a stick will be helpful, especially in cases of chronical ill people. The doctor gets every information he needs to supply appropriate medical care with one mouse-click. The information will be written in English and in relevant terms of the medical technical terminology. The patient has to handle the USB stick like an identity card: ready to hand wherever he goes. Due to the simple technical form many physicians will be able to open and use the data. The first sticks have been delivered for 10 test patients in each partner country of the project „eHealth for Regions“.

More information in the German journal "Ärztezeitung".

 

Two projects - one conference

The European Union supports two eHealth projects within the Baltic Sea Region INTERREG III B programme: The project “Baltic eHealth” and our project “eHealth for Regions”. In May 2007 the two projects will host the common conference “Cross-border eHealth in the Baltic Sea Region”. The two projects will show the project results, and will discuss the challenges, strategies and the projects of the future. The aim is to bring together persons from the health sectors, who are involved in the health processes in the close sense, but also persons from fields such as IT, business, policy, administration, spatial planning and education. The conference will be supported by the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth

More information and the registration are available now on the conference website www.ehealthconference.info

 

Meeting "E-Health and medical technology in the future" in Bad Segeberg, Germany

The Chamber of Commerce Lübeck, the Chamber of Commerce Hamburg and the Health Region Segeberg invite to the meeting "E-Health and medical technology in the future" to be held in Bad Segeberg, Germany, on the 20th of September 2006. Topics of the conference are: Electronic health card in Schleswig-Holstein, Information on the Danish health portal (www.sundhed.dk) and medicine-technical solutions for Materials and implants in the future.
For more infomations please contact:
Dr. Klaus Westphal
E-Mail: Klaus.Westphal@Kreis-Segeberg.de
Telephon: +49 (0)4551 951204

 

eHealth 2006 High Level Conference in Malaga

The eHealth 2006 High Level Conference took place from 10 to 12 of May, 2006 in Málaga, Spain themed „eHealth in the Europe of the Regions: Networks for Health“. This year edition was devoted to review and to analyse the role that eHealth plays in the progress of Health policies in the Europe of the regions. The conference programme was structured on several sub-subjects including: health general issues, technical aspects, new roles for the citizen and prospective analysis. On the realisation of the vision that eHealth is on the threshold of a new phase of development forging a European eHealth Area will be therefore worked. Some representatives of the network “eHealth for Regions” participated at the high level conference.

see conference site

 

Pilot in telecardiology started

The pilot implementation in the field of telecardiology started now in Sweden, Germany, Poland and Lithuania. All partners are using the same transnational multilingual server and all participating physicians have access to the system. The Swedish partners use the Tele ECG for home care while they have achieved already successful results. The partners in Poland and Lithuania use the Tele ECG for monitoring high risk patients waiting for an invasive diagnostic or bypass operation. The patients or the physicians can record the ECG at home and send the data via telephone to their heart centre where the physicians follow up by verbal communication.

The transmission of the ECG records is organised cross-border. The accoustic data is sent by telephone to a transnational multilingual server of the telemedicine centre in Bad Segeberg, Germany (TSGZ). The TSGZ converts the tones to a readable ECG and forward it by e-mail to the national heart centres of the project partners. According to the requirements the family doctor or the emergency unit will be informed for necessary treatment.

Another pilot in Poland will start soon with a new heart network. The local hospitals in the Pomeranian region will use the Tele ECG for getting a second opinion from experts of the Medical University of Gdansk.

 

eHealth for Regions – from now on a light house project in Germany

The project „eHealth for Regions“ is from now on one of six light house projects of Land Schleswig-Holstein. This underlines the importance of eHealth in the northern region of Germany. The light house projects are selected and supported by the Government of Land Schleswig-Holstein to support the co-operation of enterprises and institutions from different fields of the health service and the health economy. This health initiative (called „Gesundheitsinitiative Schleswig-Holstein“) has several goals:

• to create quality-secured structures in integrated health care
• integration of offers for prevention, rehabilitation and recovery to new innovative health package
• to disseminate the leading position of Land Schleswig-Holstein in scientific and medial-technical issues.

Other light house projects are a breast cancer network, “irridation of cancer”, co-operation in surgery, the electronic health card and health tourism.

For more information

 

Political Strategic Board Meeting in Viborg, Denmark

"We want to secure today a continuous development"

… with these words Bent Hansen welcomed the representatives from the Baltic Sea countries at the first political strategic board meeting of the eHealth for regions-project in Viborg, Denmark. Bent Hansen, Amtsborgmester from Viborg and 1st Vice Chairman of Danish Regions and Chairman of the Danish Healthcare Committee, emphasises the common vision of all partner regions to develop eHealth solutions across borders of the Baltic Sea area. Dr. Hellmut Körner, state secretary from the ministry of health of the German land of Schleswig-Holstein, stressed that eHealth solutions help to develop a far better communication and cooperation structure between the health professionals and the other partners in the health care system, and that the project is a contribution to the realisation of the European eHealth action plan.

Presentations, and additional documents of the meeting are now available under "Publications".

 

Letter of intent for cross-border cooperation in healthcare in the Baltic Sea Region be signed in Viborg, Denmark

On 4th November 2005 representatives from eight Baltic Sea countries will sign a letter of intent in Viborg, Denmark, to strengthen the cooperation between the Baltic Sea Regions in the healthcare sector. Representatives from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Sweden will sign the letter of intent, for example Bent Hansen, Amtsborgmester from Viborg, and Ms Gitta Trauernicht, Minister of Social and Health Affairs, for the German land of Schleswig-Holstein. More information on the event is published in the press release.

 

Presentations from the meeting "E-Health and medical technology in the future" in Bad Segeberg, Germany

The contributions of the advisers to the meeting "E-Health and medical technology in the future" held on 21st of September in Bad Segeberg, Germany, are now available under "Publications" (german only).

 

Meeting "E-Health and medical technology in the future" in Bad Segeberg, Germany

The Chamber of Commerce Lübeck, the Chamber of Commerce Hamburg and the Health Region Segeberg invite to the meeting "E-Health and medical technology in the future" to be held in Bad Segeberg, Germany, on the 21st of September. Within this meeting the future prospects and developments in the field of ehealth and medical technology are to be discussed. Speaker will be amongst others State Secretary Helmut Körner from the Land of Schleswig-Holstein as well as "ehealth for regions" project partners Werner Smidt, TSGZ Bad Segeberg, and Henning Bruun-Schmidt, Viborg Amt. For more informations see the agenda in German: (Download-PDF)

 

Telemedicine Symposium "eHealth for all" in Bad Segeberg, Germany

From 10th to 11th of May 2005 an international Telemedicine Symposium "eHealth for all" was held in Bad Segeberg, Germany. The symposium with participants from Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Denmark focused on the clinical and practical aspects in telecardiology. The meeting was organised within the framework of a pilot implementation of e-health solutions in the field of telecardiology which will be carried in work-packages 3 and 4.

 

Common Workshop between the EU Interreg projects “Baltic Sea eHealth” and “eHealth for regions” in Viborg, Denmark

On the 10th of January 2005 a common workshop with members of the "Baltic Sea eHealth" project and "eHealth for Regions" took place in Viborg, Denmark. Both projects are financially supported by the BSR Interreg III B programme of the European Union. The main focus of the meeting was on getting a better knowledge about the projects’ objectives and on finding possibilities to work together. The eleven particpiants of this workshop decided to cooperate closer concerning the legal financial, organisational and educational aspects of eHealth.

 

WP meeting and PSC meeting of the “eHealth for Regions” project in Seinäjoki

From the 16th to the 18th December 2004 the meeting of the four work-packages (WP) and the Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting took place in Seinäjoki, Finnland. Inter alia, of the WP-meeting the focus was on giving an impression about the different national health care structures as an information basis to cooperate, to transfer eHealth solutions between the partners and to develop cross-border activities.

 

eHealth seminar in Seinäjoki

On the 16th of December 2004, the three Finnish project partners, Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia, Seinäjoki Polytechnic and South Ostrobothnia Health Care District, have invited to an eHealth seminar in the Health Technology Center Mediwest, Seinäjoki. For Information about the content and the referees please download the Agenda (Download PDF).

 

Homepage launched

The homepage of the "eHealth for regions"-project is now on-line. At the address www.eHealthforRegions.net general information on the project, as well as the latest news are available in English. The basic information about the project is launched also in Danish, Finish, German, Lituanian, Polish, and Swedish. Additionally a project folder is available now.

 

Project brochure published

A basic brochure on the "eHealth for Regions" is published now.
In this brochure are information about the background, the objectives, the partners, and the foreseen activities in the four work-packages of the project. The project brochure and a translation into all other partner languages can be downloaded under Publications

 

Presentation at the "Health for all"-Conference in Kiel

At the international conference "Health for all ", held in Kiel, Germany, on the 29th October, the "eHealth for Regions"-project was presented by two project members Timo Urpala from the Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia, Finland, and Thorsten Beck from the statutory health insurance AOK Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The "eHealth for Regions"-project was one of the selected projects, which were presented at this conference. Among the participants were representatives from the whole Baltic Sea Area.

 

Project meetings in Lund

The participants of all work-packages have had a common meeting on the 29th and 30th September 2004 in Lund, Sweden. Rita Jedlert, the Director of Management of the Health and Medical Service Department of Region Skåne, welcomed the participants and gave an introduction to the new structure of the health care provision in Region Skåne. Afterwards her colleagues Lars Sjöberg, Helena Svedberg, and Åsa Berling, gave an overview about the latest approaches and projects in the field of eHealth in the Region. Chair of the meeting was the s teering committee Owe Svensson from the Region Skåne.

 

Kick-off in Viborg, Denmark

The first meeting of all project participants took place in Viborg, Denmark, on the 23rd - 24th of June 2004. Chair of the meeting was Henning Bruun-Schmidt from the Viborg County Council. The participants of all work-packages discussed the next steps of the project and decided to install a project steering committee with eight members from different partner organisations. All partner countries are represented in this decision making committee.

 

Project approved

In the winter 2003/2004 17 partner institutions around the Baltic Sea developed and submitted an application in the field of eHealth within the framework of the Baltic Sea Region Interreg III B program. The application has now been approved by the Interreg-Secretariat in Rostock with a total project budget of 3.27 million Euros. The financial investment is provided by the partners, Norway, and the European Union.