26 April 2011 -- The IHE European Connectathon held April 11 to 15, 2011, gathered an unprecedented participation of leading actors in European eHealth. Over 2,100 tests for the exchange of medical information were performed, including the first cross-border exchange of real patient data among 13 Member States of the European Union during a parallel testing event organized by epSOS called Projectathon.
An intensive, five-day connectivity marathon, the 11th annual IHE-Europe Connectathon attracted 430 participants who tested new healthcare systems and attended a series of satellite meetings organized by working groups for international organisations.
The focus for Connectathon workshops included updating image data standards with DICOM, plotting a European roadmap for interoperability in health information systems with HITCH, advancing a real-world exchange of patient data between countries with European Patient Smart Open Services (epSOS), and studying the effectiveness of telemonitoring services in the EU-sponsored multi-center clinical trial Renewing Health.
At the European Connectathon the new IHE Domain for Pharmacy that enables electronic prescription exchanges in both hospital and community settings was tested for the first time, and the first European testing of the IHE Domain for Personal Care Devices was successfully completed.
The development of two new IHE Domains for Endoscopy and Dental were announced during the IHE-Europe Connectathon 2011.
"The clear success of the European Connectathon is in bringing together stakeholders from diverse groups for hands-on problem-solving that contributes to real progress advancing interoperability between healthcare systems," said Peter Künecke, the Co-Chair of IHE-Europe representing Vendors.
According to Jacqueline Surugue, the User Co-Chair for IHE-Europe, "The remarkable achievement at this year's Connectathon was extending the open collaboration methods of IHE-Europe to create a cooperative environment where decision makers could find a way forward to meet the complex challenges in improving healthcare delivery for patients." During the IHE-Europe General Assembly at Connectathon, Jacqueline Surugue was reelected to a new two-year term as User Co-Chair.
Organized by IHE-Italy in cooperation with the University of Pisa, the week-long event was hosted at the Stazione Leopolda, a former railway station transformed into a multifunctional centre that was hard-wired for broadband internet to accommodate testing for 117 different healthcare systems by 75 companies and institutions.
For more information on IHE-Europe please visit: www.ihe-europe.net.
About Connectathon
Connectathon is the healthcare IT industries largest interoperability testing event, the culmination of a detailed development process based on the IHE Technical Frameworks that promote the adoption of standards-based interoperability by vendors and users of healthcare information systems. Once each year Connectathons held in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia provide developers an opportunity to demonstrate conformance to internationally accepted integration profiles that assure any IHE-compliant system can share data and interoperate with any other IHE compliant system.
About IHE-Europe
IHE-Europe is the European organisation of the international IHE organisation. ‘Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise’ (IHE) is a joint initiative of healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM, XML and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care. Systems developed in accordance with IHE specifications communicate with one another better, are easier to implement, and enable care providers to use information more effectively.
Press contacts:
Eric Poiseau IHE-Europe Technical Project Manager Tel: +33 (0)2 99 84 74 58 technical.manager@ihe-europe.net
Marie-Astrid Libert IHE-Europe Communications Tel: +32 (2) 706 89 60 coordinator@ihe-europe.net
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