The Swiss hospital system is facing a radical change. Billing by Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) is about to be introduced. European Hospital's correspondent in Switzerland, Dr André Weissen,* approached Dr Carlo Conti, President of SwissDRG AG to discuss some of the controversial issues involved in the switch to DRGs
In the 30 years since the overthrow of its last Shah (1979) Iranian radiologists have been welcome speakers and research presenters at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR).
This was it, 15th May, the big day: Johnson & Johnson's Worldwide Mesh Technology Centre was officially opening in Norderstedt near Hamburg, Germany.
Lean Laboratory and Lean Automation are vital ingredients for the efficient and productive running of today's modern pathology laboratories. Automation serves as an essential endorsement to Lean, says Paul M Button, Senior Consultant at ValuMetrix, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics*
Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics will showcase the combined strengths of Diagnostics Products Corporation (DPC), Bayer HealthCare Diagnostics and Dade Behring.
As one of the biggest foreign companies, GE Healthcare has about 200 employees in cities across Russia and, up to now, has supplied around 5,100 units to over 2,900 medical institutions.
It was a tough project but in the end the ministers of health of 53 countries - the WHO European Region - agreed on a groundbreaking paper on healthcare, committing themselves to concrete actions to fight the fact that many people have no easy and affordable access to quality healthcare. They will strengthen a system that will allow both their own people and the international community to hold…
When it comes to children's cancer care, the National Health Service counts on the concern of others, critics say. In their opinion the Britisch NHS tries to compense financial deficits by falling back on charity support. This could lead to large inequalities between different disease treatments and to over-reliances on local donations and social work.
New analyses from Frost & Sullivan, Central and Eastern European Surgical Disposables Markets, finds that the market generated revenues of $35.1 million in 2007 and estimates this to nearly triple by 2014 to reach $101.5 million.
The German chapter of anti-corruption organisation Transparency International had another close look at the German healthcare system. And it didn't like what it found: In an updated policy paper, member of the board of directors Anke Martiny, deplores that "huge amounts of money belonging to the insured are lost" due to lack of transparency, to corruption and fraud.
Cars, cranes, IT - leasing has become a very popular method of financing. And it is about to conquer the ICUs, ORs and imaging departments of hospitals and clinics. According to the association of German leasing companies (Bundesverband Deutscher Leasing-Unternehmen e.V.), in 2005 the leasing volume for medical technology increased by 20 percent compared to the prior year.
The development of private medicine in Russia has reached a new level, according to Sergej Anoufriev, CEO of the St Petersburg Association of Clinics (set up by 13 private clinics two years ago). Private clinics have become a real part of the Russian healthcare system and people increasingly choose private medical services. However, the state and private organisations solve the same problems…
Leica Microsystems announced in May it acquired the assets of St. Louis, Missouri-based Coretech Holdings and McCormick Scientific, LLC (Coretech), expanding its leading position in histopathology. Coretech provides an extensive range of systems, instruments, reagents and consumables for the clinical and research histology laboratory.
The public health sector in Eastern Europe is moving from a erratic and unpredictable system in a favourable environment for private investors. In particular hospitals use private financers to invest in medical imaging equipment - and therefore improve the outlook for medical imaging markets, according to a new analysis from Frost & Sullivan.
On 1st May, Medilog became part of the SCHILLER group. Medilog will be SCHILLER's high-end Holter system. Medilog's additional products are an ideal complement to SCHILLER's present product range. The SCHILLER group very much looks forward to the coming co-operation.
Following 12 years of development, German surgeons and technicians have successfully implanted the world's first vision prosthesis in six blind patients.
Royal Philips Electronics recently announced it will acquire TOMCAT Systems Ltd., based in Northern Ireland. Terms of this acquisition were not disclosed. TOMCAT offers a software solution to collect and aggregate data relative to the cardiac care of patients, and allows for a comprehensive, patient-centric presentation of this data to care givers such as doctors and nurses.
Although much has been done in the last three or four months, iSoft needs to become a stronger global organisation, Gary Cohen emphasised.
Olympus, which recently opened the global Research and Development Centre for Life Science in Munich, will invest around euro 15m in this project.
Over the past few years, hospitals in Germany have been faced with ever new challenges. However, the solutions offered so far are not sufficient. On the contrary - rather than solving problems, they tend to create new ones. A change of paradigm in the organisation of hospitals is imminent and hospitals have to change radically, argues Holger Richter
Germany - Managing a lab for out- and in-patient care involves not only mastering increasing pressures in terms of efficiency and cost-optimisation, but also being au courant with ever evolving clinical issues and state-of-the-art lab technology and procedures.
After Agfa split its core business units to form three legal entities under the Agfa-Gevaert Group, in January this year, Christian Reinaudo became President of Agfa HealthCare. Speaking with European Hospital representative Gabriela Eriksen, he explained the implications of the business split and future aims for the division he now heads.
The TopClinica, an international trade fair and congress focused on medical equipment and solutions is a new event on the calendar.
Approximately 150,000 surgical interventions are performed every year in the hospitals of Vienna. Efficient coordination of OR schedules in the individual clinics as well as the reduction of patient waiting times are therefore crucial objectives in successful hospital management.
Among its many specialties, the 909-bed AZ Sint-Jan AV Hospital in Bruges, Belgium, has a high level of expertise in cardiac catheterisations and electrophysiology.