Topics
A selected group of prominent players from different disciplines in the health care sector will be joining us to discuss several topics. The discussions will be spread over 5 round tables. During the discussion, notes will be taken and afterwards, these will be processed to be used later on during an debate with some of our lead guests.
These are the five topics that we'll be addressing during the congress:
Topic 1: 'Cost of drug' to 'value of treatment'
( Discussion conclusions, .pdf )
Many of today's care providers have turned away from solely thinking in terms of purchase cost of drugs towards the full cost of treatment. In this perspective, higher purchasing costs should be covered by often intangible, accompanying benefits such as a higher efficiency of treatment, improved safety for the patient or facilitating services towards the care providing organisation, its personnel and patients. This way, a part of the drug's cost contributes to the overall quality of care and efficiency of working. Besides, focussing on the overall value of treatment shifts the suppliers' (pharmaceutics) role from a pure supplier to a partner in health care delivery.
Although everyone will acknowledge the superiority of focussing on the value of treatment, certain issues still remain.
How to deal with the stakeholders' different attitudes? Hospital pharmacists are forced to focus on costs where physicians
focus on quality of care.
How can treatments be valuated? Process analysis and costing techniques can be applied to translate clinical benefits
into monetary terms but intangible and subjective benefits are hard to quantify.
The round table guests:
| Lead guest | |
| Dr. Christoph Springer | Executive Vice President Global Marketing, Vifor Pharma |
| Members | |
| Mr. Jorge Wernli | Vice President Global Pricing & Government Affairs, Vifor Pharma |
| Dr. Bo G Danielson | Founder Renapharma |
| Pharm. Jacques Douchamps | Head Pharmacist, André Vésale Hospital, CHU of Charleroi |
| Prof. Pharm. Hugo Robays | Head Pharmacist, UZ Gent |
| Dr. Michel Burnier | Head Division of Nephrology and Hypertension Consultation, Centre Hopitalier Universitaire Vaudois Lausanne (CHUV) |
Topic 2: Belgium as a key-player for `health care without borders'
( Discussion conclusions, .pdf )
The Belgian health care sector has known several evolutions. After the fusions we saw the associations and (regional and functional) hospital networks. Is internationalisation the next step? Belgium is a knowledge centre in different domains. Especially our health care has an international renommee. As a result, Belgium is in the middle of the international cooperation and cross-border care delivery. Or not yet?
- "International patient mobility: marginal phenomenon or booming business?"
- "Health care across borders = health care at two speeds. No pay no cure."
- "The national legislation is often an obstructing factor for international cooperation. There is need for facilitating initiatives."
- "Delocalisation to low remunerations countries is not possible in health care."
- "The new EU citizens are the future guest workers in the Belgian health institutions."
These and more quotes to be discussed...
The round table guests:
| Lead guest | |
| Prof. Dr. Dirk Ramaekers | Chief Medical Officer, ZNA |
| Members | |
| Ms. Lieve Decaluwe | Manager CRG, UZ Brussel |
| Ms. Frieda Brepoels (under reserve) | MEP - Member EuroMed European Parliament |
| Mr. Christian Horeman | International Affairs Manager, MLOZ |
| Mr. Falk Beerten | General Manager Healthcare Belgium |
Topic 3: The future of ICT in the health care market
( Discussion conclusions, .pdf )
Health care in general is facing tremendous challenges the next coming years and decades. Managing a hospital becomes very complex and there's an enormous pressure on the budget, while resources are scarce. The government introduces more and more rules, regulating and controlling more and more aspects. The patient however has the ability to compare institutions, doctors, treatments, etc.
From this business reality, ICT has to follow and support those challenges. At this round table we want to focus on 3 ICT related topics in health care:
- Are the national wide (even European, etc.) E-Health and EPR/PHR initiatives supporting the needs of the patients and the care providers?
- The current ICT packages/software for hospitals: How do the local and international suppliers respond to the future challenges? ADT, Electronic prescriptions, EMR, etc.: How do they evolve? How do we integrate them into one consistent hospital platform?
- Taking into account the management challenges of our health care market: What is the need for solutions like Business Intelligence & Information Management in this market. What are the constraints and opportunities?
These questions will form the context of our discussion. We hope to present you some innovative ideas at this round table.
The round table guests:
| Lead guest | |
| Prof. Guido Dedene | Professor KU Leuven |
| Members | |
| Ms. Hilde Goossens | IT Manager, Virga Jesse Hospital |
| Mr. Gunther Kostka | IT Manager, AZ Sint-Lucas & Volkskliniek |
| Ms. Helga De Neve | IT Manager, AZ Brugge |
| Mr. Peter Verboven | Advisor Knowledge Center, VOKA |
Topic 4: Corporate governance in health care
( Discussion conclusions, .pdf )
Effective provision of health care at optimal quality standards challenged by increased competition and differentiation in the care sector asks for new concepts of strategies, governance and management. Most of those new concepts are about network management, investment policies and PPP.
New forms of management and control induce other views on good governance in hospitals. Governance systems have to evolve with quality management of health care, continuity, cooperation between health care institutions, innovation and economic performance. What is the most appropriate board composition? How can policy cycles connect stakeholders? How can health care organisations prioritize and focus on challenges and risks? The hict congress will address these topics.
The round table guests:
| Lead guest | |
| Hugo Casteleyn | Managing Director, AZ St-Blasius |
| Members | |
| Mr. Maurits de Brauw | Owner Mauralto & General Secretary Audit Office NL |
| Mr. Wouter de Graaf | Cluster Manager Care, Hospital Gelderse Vallei |
| Dr. Yves Brysem | General Manager, Virga Jesse Hospital |
Topic 5: Hospitals as the center of economical and logistic growth
( Discussion conclusions, .pdf )
The internal economical business reality of hospitals: the possible step from non-profit to profit centers. The current and future need towards new investments, innovation and high level care and cure, growing demands and expectations of the patients, etc. How can the current hospitals make to move to realize this business case.
Existing operational concepts of other industries, are they applicable in health care? Mainly logistic, purchasing, facilities, etc. What is the value, what are the burdens, what are the challenges to introduce concepts like Vender Based Management, outsourcing, etc.
The economic impact of a health care provider within the region is an underestimated social and economical driver: impact on employment, on supply, on local and regional policies, on mobility, on education, etc. How can this be further developed, optimized and leveraged? How do the policy makers take this subject into account, how does the market matches the demand of expertise, knowledge, products and services with the regional supply of these elements. What are the consequences when hospitals take decisions like merging their facilities and outsourcing their services?
The round table guests:
| Lead guest | |
| Prof. Arthur Vleugels | Director of the Center for Health Services and Nursing Research, KU Leuven |
| Members | |
| Ms. Kathleen Mariën | Advisor Knowlegde Center, VOKA |
| Mr. Christophe Mouton | Financial Director, Jan Yperman Hospital |
| Mr. Johnny Van der Straeten | Chief Executive Officer, UZA |
| Mr. Jan Sap | General Director, UNIZO |
| Mr. Henk J.M. Leenders | Director AreaConsult bv |
Note: The topics are still subject to change.