Olga Ostrovskaya reports on the first St Petersburg medical forum Private medicine in Russia: Problems and ways of evolution, which took place in June. Organised by various medical associations, the main goal was to exchange experiences in private medicine and shape proposals to create a productive state policy in this sphere
Medical services About 90% of hospital income is generated in the 35 weekly working hours of regular day shifts. However, due to new work time regulations fewer and fewer physicians are available for these productive shifts and much of the work time is spent in the 133 working hours of the 'unproductive' night shifts.
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).
Although incremental improvements in cancer care were unveiled at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology held in Chicago, USA, — the world's largest gathering of cancer specialists, our correspondent Ian Mason writes that, even as new study results were being reported, their cost implications for stretched healthcare budgets were questioned.
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*
Work procedures have been radically simplified since, over one weekend five years ago, two specialist laboratories owned by Dr Helge Riegel GmbH Medical Supply Centre in Wiesbaden, Germany, installed two Olympus OLA2500 systems.
This was it, 15th May, the big day: Johnson & Johnson's Worldwide Mesh Technology Centre was officially opening in Norderstedt near Hamburg, Germany.
Process optimisation concerns all primary and secondary processes in a hospital. Case management is a tool that supports the implementation of comprehensive optimisation efforts.
Last August, when the South African hospital group Medi-Clinic Corporation acquired Hirslanden, Switzerland's biggest private hospital group, the company not only took its first step into Europe, but progressed its strategy for the geographical expansion of its core business — acute medicine 'in conjunction with superior nursing care'.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Although much has been done in the last three or four months, iSoft needs to become a stronger global organisation, Gary Cohen emphasised.
Ian Mason reports from Chicago
