Executive Summary of the 2014 European Conference on Rare Diseases

A record 768 attendees from 43 countries took part and over 200 posters were presented at this year'sEuropean Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products (ECRD), the biggest yet since the first took place in 2001.

The 7th ECRD, co-organised by EURORDIS and DIA(the Drug Information Association), took place in May of this year in Berlin. Download the newly available ECRD Executive Summary to view the full conference programme, a breakdown of attendees, a list of posters and summaries of the themes and sessions.

You can also view a special ECRD supplement of speaker and poster presentations featured in the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases.

The event, which takes place every two years, is a unique platform across all rare diseases and European countries, bringing together patient representatives, academics, healthcare professionals, industry, payers, regulators and policymakers.

5th International Conference on Digital Health

ACM DL 2015 will in particular focus on public health computer science covering a wide spectrum of subjects including communities of practice and social networks, analytics and engagement with tracking and monitoring wearable devices, big data, public health surveillance, persuasive technologies, epidemic intelligence, participatory surveillance, serious games for public health interventions and automated early identification of health threats and response.

5th DIGITAL HEALTH: 5th International Conference on Digital Health
http://www.acm-digitalhealth.org/ 

18th - 20th May 2015, Florence, Italy held in conjunction with WWW 2015

Antilope Handover Workshop/Conference

The Antilope network will come to an end in January 2015.

To cap two years of hard work, the project will convene key stakeholders, decision makers and eHealth experts for its final event, a “handover workshop”, on 29 January 2015 in Ghent, Belgium.  We invite interested parties to join us to hear about Antilope’s key outcomes; learn how countries, projects and leading experts adapt Antilope’s approach to standards and interoperability; and get to know various EU projects and initiatives that will carry Antilope’s work forward (hence the “handover”).

The Antilope handover workshop will review project results and deliverables, assess the impact of Antilope recommendations from at least four Member States, and discuss in a roundtable with new EU-funded initiatives how the Antilope results will be used, refined, and further disseminated to advance eHealth interoperability. To ensure that this handover will benefit from input from many stakeholders, Antilope invites:

• Antilope consortium members
• European initiatives and projects promoting eHealth interoperability
• eHealth experts, policymakers, procurers, academics, industry
• and other interested parties

Participants will get the opportunity to interact face to face with EU officials, policymakers and eHealth experts, and to learn first-hand about the European eHealth interoperability agenda.

The event takes place on Thursday, 29 January 2015, 09.00-17.00, in the Ghent University Hospital Auditorium in Ghent, Belgium.

Health Professionals, it is time to upgrade your (e)Skills!

The European Commission and the Member States should take steps to ensure that eHealth is part of the curricula of healthcare professionals, notably making use of the new possibilities provided by the updated Directive 2005/36 on regulated professions.

This is one of the key recommendations made by the eHealth Stakeholder Group, a European Commission advisory body, in its report on eSkills workforce.

According to the group, the healthcare workforce is crucial in the wider deployment of eHealth. First, they are the primary users of eHealth. Plus, they also accompany patients in using appropriately these technologies, providing reassurance. Supporting digital skills of the health workforce is all the more needed in the view of the constant changing nature of healthcare systems and healthcare delivery.

Patients suffering from medicines shortages in all European countries

A new report on medicines shortages experienced in European healthcare systems reveals that over 86% of hospital pharmacists are experiencing difficulties in sourcing medicines with 66% reporting this as a daily or weekly problem. The top affected areas are medicines to fight infection, cancer drugs and anaesthetics.

The report by the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), surveyed the experiences of over 600 hospital pharmacists in 36 European countries, and presents a striking picture of how medicines shortages are affecting the treatment of patients across the continent.

75% of surveyed hospital pharmacists either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "medicines shortages in my hospital are having a negative impact on patient care". Consequences for patients included delayed or interrupted chemotherapy treatment, unnecessary experience by patients of side effects, heightened clostridium difficile risk and deterioration in patients' conditions.

IHE International News - Connectathons, Education and More

IHE Europe Connectathon 
Luxembourg will host the fifteenth annual IHE-E Connectathon April 20-24, 2015. Last year's event saw over 70 companies test over 100 systems. Companies large and small are invited to test systems this year in all categories of health IT to ensure their interoperability with those of their peers. Registration opens Dec. 1, 2014. Find more information here.

IHE USA Partners with HIMSS and IWG to Simplify Health Data Exchange
IHE USA has announced a strategic partnership with the Interoperability Workgroup (IWG) and HIMSS to streamline connectivity between EHR systems and health information exchanges (HIEs) by providing detailed specifications and testing processes to ensure connectivity. The group will announce the opening of a new testing and certification program at the IHE North American Connectathon Conference 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio Learn more here.