Dear Members and Friends, They say history has a habit of repeating itself! Well on day 3 of last year’s IHE-Europe Connectathon in Bochum the weather turned cloudy, wet and windy and Venice has shown a similar tendency. However it did not deter, in fact may have encouraged, 150 plus delegates to attend Arsenàl.IT and IHE-Italy organised parallel meeting – Health Information Exchange (HIE), from mirage to reality.
Moderator Ruggiero Corcella, renowned journalist and staff editor at Corriere della Sera, welcomed a packed audience to a thrilling session that was supported by Regione del Veneto, Arsenàl.IT and IHE-Italy under the special patronage of the Italian Ministry of Health – in the presence of Lidia Di Minco – Director of National Health Information Systems, Directorate General of Digitization and other national and regional government colleagues. On behalf of the DG Santé, European Commission, Licinio Kustra Mano outlined the Cross-Border eHealth Services in Europe, stressing the importance of participation of every member state and the benefits each will receive from the interoperability of data sharing, underpinned by IHE Profiles, for each and every individual involved. Lapo Bertini, Co-Chair of IHE Italy, talked on the crucial role of IHE Conformity Assessment in the deployment of eHealth programmes. A VIP Tour of the Connectathon floor for delegates followed and was greeted with equal enthusiasm.
Lapo Bertini, on behalf of IHE-Europe and IHE-Italy expressed his delight at the success of all events in the parallel programme, “I am pleased that delegates have attended this year’s events in record numbers, it shows that interest in interoperability is huge amongst the Italian health IT fraternity". To follow activities from the Connectathon please use #connectathon2017#ehealth2017 and #interoperability.
