Fira de Barcelona creates MIHealth Forum to provide innovative ideas for the healthcare system

By Biocat

The ever-increasing ageing population and a restrictive economic panorama require a new approach to the current healthcare structure, in order to provide better quality care without increasing expenditure. Can ACOs (Accountable Care Organizations) and PPPs (public/private partnerships) ensure the future of the healthcare system? Are they valid solutions to the current state of affairs? In order to address challenges in this sector by studying the latest trends and national and international success stories, the Barcelona Fairgrounds has created the MIHealth Management & Clinical Innovation Forum, which will be held 24 and 25 May 2012 in Barcelona.

To organize this forum, the Barcelona Fairgrounds has received guidance from a scientific committee made up of some twenty experts from the healthcare sector –including Biocat CEO Montserrat Vendrell— from different Spanish hospitals, health departments, sectorial bodies, medical associations and business schools.

In Spain, the autonomous communities will spend nearly 6% less on health in 2012 than they did last year. This means approximately €1,210.95 per person on average (in 2011 it was €1,288.58). Josep Maria Piqué, general director of Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic and president of the MIHealth Forum, explains that this initiative is aimed at “allowing clinics, managers and the healthcare industry to share proposals and strategies on how to facilitate rapid and efficient transfer of new ideas and knowledge, which will help make our healthcare system sustainable in the long term.”

The sessions will be organized in four blocks:

• Clinical knowledge and managing innovation: from idea to market
• Technologies to transform the healthcare system
• Innovation in managing healthcare organizations
• Sustainability of healthcare systems

Noteworthy among the topics to be covered are managing chronic illness, telecare and the impact of ICT in the healthcare arena, fostering innovation among clinical personnel, and analyzing success stories like Kaiser Permanente.

International experiences in Catalonia

The speakers include renowned figures such as Ron Kikinis, founder of the Harvard Surgical Planning Laboratory (Boston, USA); Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE), who is returning to Barcelona after participating in the 2011 Biocat Forum; Hung Chi-Tim, general director of the Central Kowloon hospital cluster (Hong Kong), and Mercè Balcells, researcher in the joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology department.

According to Piqué, in order to best approach the future, it is key to foster "cooperation among healthcare professionals, healthcare managers and policy-makers, the medical industry as a whole and the patients themselves, who must take on a more active and participative role and co-responsibility in general healthcare decisions that directly affect them.” The forum is geared towards healthcare professionals, managers, general managers, CEOs, managing directors and top executives from the healthcare arena, as well as businesspeople providing technology, services and products to this sector.

The MIHealth Forum receives support from more than 20 institutions, including the Catalan and Basque governments, the Spanish Federation of Healthcare Technology Companies (Fenin), the Barcelona Medical Association (COMB), the Spanish Society of Healthcare Executives and the main hospitals (Itemas and Regic Networks, which account for 80% of all research investment in Spain).

Registration (25% discount through 29/2/2012)

Date: 24 and 25 May 2012
Venue: Congress Hall (Montjuïc fairgrounds) • Av. Maria Cristina, s/n • Barcelona (Spain)

• Related news (30/3/2012)
• News related to the 7th Barcelona Healthcare Investment Forum (27/3/2012)