Facing rapidly rising costs, a third (33 percent) of European hospitals are reporting operating losses, generating negative earnings after tax, according to a new nine-country study released by Accenture (NYSE:ACN). Accenture's European Hospital Rating Report includes an in-depth review of the 2011 financial statements of more than 1,500 hospitals in nine countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.

The Finnish healthcare company Evondos Oy has introduced a novel automatic medication service that ensures a patient in home care gets a correct dose of the right medicine at the right time. In addition, the service enables active contact and communication between the patient and the healthcare personnel.

With the ultimate goal of holistic individual and population health management, HIMSS Europe has presented today the Continuity of Care Maturity Model™, which addresses the importance of information exchange, care coordination, interoperability, patient engagement and analytics. The purpose is to move one step forward in eHealth in the continent, by supporting and complementing existing EMR models to provide leadership and guidance.

The HIMSS Europe Governing Council invites nominations for three vacancies on the HIMSS Governance Council for a three year term to begin on 1 July, 2014 and end 30 June, 2017. Submissions must be submitted no later than 31 May 2014.

BridgeHead Software, the Healthcare Data Management (HDM) specialist, and Capita Healthcare Decisions, the leading provider of clinical decision software and managed services for health, announce a partnership. BridgeHead and Capita can now offer new and existing customers a healthcare platform as a service for BridgeHead's Healthcare Data Management (HDM) Solution, enabling hospitals to effectively store, protect and share their healthcare data in a secure, scalable N3 accredited UK data centre.

In advance of the seventeenth European Health Forum Gastein conference, this year themed "Electing Health - the Europe we want!" which will take place in Austria's Gastein Valley from 1 to 3 October 2014, the International Forum Gastein has announced its annual search for a winner of its European Health Award. The award of €10,000 will be sponsored by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health and FOPI, the association of research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in Austria.

Clinicians across Bristol are set to share radiology images far more effectively and improve patient care following the implementation of the Connect and Share registry. As an extension to the Image Exchange Portal (IEP) used across every NHS trust, Connect and Share has successfully completed extensive testing at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. It is now entering the final stages of a pilot programme, before benefiting thousands of clinicians and their patients, with at least two other trusts in the region due to come on board.