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.
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.
From 2004 to 2007 VHitG (Verband der Hersteller von IT-Systemen im Gesundheitswesen) and Messe Frankfurt jointly organised ITeG (IT-Messe und Dialog im Gesundheitswesen). When VhitG moved the event to Berlin, this cooperation ended and Messe Berlin came on board as new partner for what is now called conhIT. The organisation team headed by Jens Naumann, VhitG chairman, developed an entirely new…
The complete takeover of hospital laboratories through private laboratory service providers is rapidly changing the nature of German laboratories. Taking a closer look at these developments, it becomes apparent that several trends are developing.
Health service budgets often cannot be stretched to buy a vital piece of equipment or new state-of-the-art department. However, by stimulating social consciousness money from the public can flood in - even enough to build an entire new hospital.
One of the most painful problems of modern Russia is the high death rate, especially among able-bodied people. In 2005, the average life expectancy for men was 58.8 years.
Shanghai, China — Royal Philips Electronics and Ascent Profit, a leading Chinese medical equipment wholesaler, today announced that they have signed a €25 million contract to bring digital radiography systems to hospitals in China.
As healthcare IT becomes increasing technologically complex, well-designed partnerships with vendors and service companies may be the most efficient and cost-effective means by which to operate, Dr Thomas Geisinger, Global Manager for e-Health Integration of Agfa Healthcare in Mortsel, Belgium, told attendees at the Hospital Management Symposium.
Hospitals concerned about the accuracy of utilization predictions of new diagnostic imaging equipment will be interested in pay-per-use financing that is being offered by global vendors. Eric-Jan Rutten, General Manager of Professional Healthcare Solutions of Philips Healthcare International in Eindhoven, Netherlands, described the approach that Philips takes with both large and very small…
A national electronic patient records (EPR) archive that is estimated to manage 550 pentabytes (PB) of data by 2025 is nearing completion in Finland. Its first component, an ePrescription system, is scheduled for implementation in June 2008. The patient record archive will be activated in February 2009, and DICOM diagnostic images will be added to it in the June 2009 time frame.
“P to the power of 3” was the formula that Siemens used to make the global corporation profitable and competitive again after a troublesome period in the 1990's. Britta Fünfstück, head of business development/strategy at Siemens Healthcare, told attendees at the Hospital Management Symposium that this formula represents a commitment to People working in a high performance culture, Process,…
Luis Barcia Albacar, Director General of Torrevieja Salud UTE Hospital in Torrevieja, Spain, shared his experience of building a new hospital within budget and opening on schedule in October 2006 with all services operational. Located on the east coast of Spain, the 220-bed hospital was built to accommodate a full-time population of 213,000, but also needed to be able to service the surge of…
Martin Bledsoe described a dilemma at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. As Chief Administrator for the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, overseeing a staff of 1,000 FTEs, he does not know precisely where any of the 900 in-patients his department may need to image on any given day may be. He is not alone in his dilemma. With the exception of 0700 when patients are…
For the past eight years, Russia has been implementing a nationwide infrastructure update of its healthcare facilities. In addition to building new specialized medical centers and equipping them with state-of-technology medical equipment, it is implementing a new model for healthcare payment and scrambling to train all levels of healthcare professionals.
The healthcare system is in a phase of transition - from planned economy to free market economy. Establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships is a crucial component of any ciable strategy in future business, explained Harald W Bachleitner, Managing Director of Initiative Gesundheitswirtschaft in Berlin, Germany, at the Hospital Management Symposium.
Uterine fibroids are the most common form of benign pelvic tumor, with about 30-50% of women between the ages of 35-45 years reporting them. Although many women are asymptomatic, those who experience the symptoms of bladder pressure, frequent and very heavy menstrual periods, and uterine pain, have a reduced quality of life.
Bayer Schering Pharma presented the latest data from a health-economic evaluation of Primovist in the diagnosis of liver metastases. The results indicate that MRI using the liver-cell-specific contrast medium can lead to cost savings due to improved surgical treatment planning and less need for changes during operations.
A new volumetric X-ray application, showcased at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, Austria, provides physicians with multiple high-resolution slice images of the human anatomy, including the chest, abdomen, extemities and spine.
For the fifth time now, EUROPEAN HOSPITAL organises the Hosptial Manager Symposium in cooperation with the ECR. This years´event again provides expert advices on management, IT and finance.
UK, France & the Ukraine — In the spring of 2006, Kateryna Yuschenko, Head of the Supervisory Board for the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation, and wife of the president of Ukraine, laid a capsule at the site of a future hospital — The All-Ukrainian Mother and Child Healthcare Centre.
When the Oxford Radclife Hospitals NHS Trust invested £109 million in its new Oxford Children's Hospital, funding for certain special embellishments could not be contemplated. Thus a £15 million Campaign was launched to enable the hospital to be built and equipped far beyond the NHS standard. £13.8 million of that target has so far been received. Who raised that astonishing sum? Its…
The Milano Convention Centre (MIC) is the largest of its kind in Italy. Certainly that space will prove valuable this March, when 9,500 urologists from 100 countries attend the 23rd EAU Congress, the second biggest of its kind in the world. Apart from attending the congress and related trade fair, they may also glimpse Milan's many attractions: the cathedral, La Scala, Sforza's Castle, or even…
Globally, many healthcare providers face a dilemma: They not only need to be innovative to provide high quality care but also must reduce the costs of that care. Is this really a contradiction?
In those European countries where citizens are entitled to comprehensive healthcare financing the healthcare systems are becoming increasingly daunting tasks. Whilst in some isolated cases medical progress may indeed lead to certain cost reductions, overall this inflates costs.