VoiceIt: “Consolidate events”

(HealthTech Wire / VoiceIt) - Ilias Iakovidis, deputy head of the European Commission’s ICT for Health unit, spoke to HealthTech Wire about why the Commission has chosen a US organization to stage a pan-European eHealth event and why it has never intended to financially support The World of Health IT. With new initiatives geared towards attracting more end-users, Iakovidis expects WoHIT to become the “agora” of the developing European eHealth market.

Published: 11/12/2008

Mr. Iakovidis, what does the European Commission think about the progress and the success of WoHIT to date?

The EC has been part of the conception of this event and is actively participating in shaping the content. We are very satisfied with the progress so far. The success of this event was immediate from its first year in 2006. The Geneva WHIT '06 brought together 1,600 participants from all over the world – more than any other event on eHealth to date in the EU. This year, more than 2,100 participants were present. We believe that the event will grow further to become the "agora" for the EU-wide market that is still developing.

There is one area where we could do much better for the next event: there is still scope to increase the attendance of health professionals and eHealth procurers. It is a general weakness common to all eHealth conferences, not just WoHIT. We all need to do a better job of attracting clinical managers, CIOs and other health professionals. One idea is to allot more speaking time and offer more attractive programmes and exhibitions for them to express their opinions, needs and concerns. I am sure that it will improve the acceptance and accelerate the deployment of new eHealth solutions, while also increasing satisfaction with the exhibition.

What are the reasons for cooperating with HIMSS, and why didn’t the Commission back a European organisation to take the lead in setting up a pan-European eHealth event?

The EC has teamed up with HIMSS, WHO and five EU organisations to stage this large-scale event, which has a different target from the eHealth ministerial events that the EC has set up since 2003.

EU organisations and an EU expert board are in charge of the content of these events. The call for papers, selection of the speakers and any other content material is handled by EU organisations and the EU expert board.

HIMSS, and now the HIMSS Europe branch, are the financial organisers and managers of the exhibition. The EC has never intended to financially help any organisation to hold such a market-oriented event. The EC has proactively sought an organisation that could take on the financial risk of organising this event for a few years without EC financial support. None of the known EU-wide organisations involved in eHealth was able or wanted to undertake such a task. HIMSS is in a position to do it, and has long-term experience of eHealth and of organising conferences on a large scale.

So there has been no financial support by the EC for World of Health IT 2008?

There has never been any financial support from the European Commission for this event for the three years of its existence. The role of the European Commission is to contribute to the content and to coordinate other EU organisations' input strategies. HIMSS and now HIMSS Europe is the financial and logistical organiser, while the EC and five other EU organisations together with an educational board comprising EU experts is in charge of the content.

It should be mentioned that to our knowledge, WHIT is, thus far, financially subsidised by HIMSS. The agreement with the organising committee and HIMSS regarding the conception of this event is that any future surplus from this event will be invested in the EU by the HIMSS Europe branch for the benefit of the EU eHealth agenda and market.

What are the EC’s priorities in terms of developing WoHIT 2010?

The priorities for 2010 are to bring the constituency of our eHealth high-level (ministerial) event and that of WHIT 2010 together. We believe that consolidating these large-scale events and the synergy between all the stakeholders will benefit the eHealth agenda in the EU, that is to say the provision of faster, higher quality eHealth tools and services at affordable prices to health delivery systems and patients in the EU.

Mr. Iakovidis, thank you for your time and answers. (HTW)

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This is a HealthTech Wire VoiceIt interview.

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