Deutsche Messe AG, Hannover is organizing a new congress to be known as "TeleHealth" in parallel with CeBIT. The inaugural "TeleHealth" will take place from 19 to 20 March 2007 at the Convention Center in the exhibition grounds in Hannover. During the two days of the event, the international congress will cast the spotlight on telemedical applications and technologies, thereby enhancing the "eHealth" portfolio in Public Sector Parc at CeBIT as an independent and topic-specific event.
TeleHealth is the first event in Europe devoted exclusively to telemedical products and applications. The event organizer Deutsche Messe AG will focus on chronic illnesses, home care and healthcare. In doing so, it is targeting an extremely lucrative market. According to the latest studies, chronic illnesses (which represent around 20 percent of the total cases of illness) account for 80 percent of the costs in the healthcare system. And this figure is rising. A large part of the costs are attributable to administrative services.
Experts regard telemedicine as the central service and information tool for controlling and optimizing the flow of information between patients, hospitals and physicians with their own practices - and predict significant growth potential for the industry. For this growth to take place, however, there has to be international standardization as regards the interoperability of systems - another topic that will be addressed at TeleHealth.
"With TeleHealth, we are introducing an extremely attractive platform for managers in hospitals, specialist clinics, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes for the elderly, as well as for health insurance companies and private nursing services," says Ernst Raue, the Board Member of Deutsche Messe AG responsible for the event. Around 500 congress participants and 50 exhibitors are expected to attend the inaugural event.
The aim of Deutsche Messe AG is to establish the leading European industry get-together for telemedicine in Hannover. And the organizers believe that holding the event in parallel with CeBIT will particularly help achieve this aim. "Holding TeleHealth during CeBIT means we will achieve an outstanding trade visitor makeup and high visitor numbers from the very outset, thereby also ensuring maximum exposure for the topic and attracting high-ranking political decision-makers," explains Raue, referring to the synergies created by holding both events in parallel.
Internationality and networking are the top priorities at TeleHealth. "We want to bring together international decision-makers from healthcare, industry, research and development, the associations and politics," says Raue, explaining the concept. "By combining the congress, exhibition, company presentations and get-together, TeleHealth provides a forum for a direct exchange of ideas at the highest international level," he adds.
Deutsche Messe AG is receiving support in planning the congress and exhibition program from specialists such as Dr. Thomas Becks, Managing Director of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Biomedizinische Technik im VDE, Frankfurt, Dr. Martin Denz, Vice-President of the European Health Telematics Association (ETHEL), Brussels, and Board Member of Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Telemedizin (SGTM), Basel, Prof. Harald Korb, Medical Director of Personal Healthcare Telemedicine Services GmbH, Dusseldorf, and Dr. Thomas M. Helms, Board Member of Deutsche Stiftung für chronisch Herzkranke, Fürth.
TeleHealth will open its doors on 19 and 20 March 2007 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. A get-together is also planned for the evening of 19 March. The congress and exhibition will be held in the Convention Center (CC) on the exhibition grounds in Hannover. The exhibition program covers telemedical systems, medical engineering, telecommunicatons/IT/tele¬matics, healthcare systems and services.
For further information, please visit:
www.telehealth.de