Digital solutions as a catalyst for a sustainable healthcare system - eHealth Symposium promotes exchange between representatives from medicine, research, business and politics

Kaiserslautern. "No digitization of the healthcare system without innovative digital products. We need an industry that delivers these products," says Prof. Dr. rer. medic. Norbert Rösch of Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences, who opened yesterday's 5th eHealth Symposium Southwest as keynote speaker. Around 300 representatives from medicine, research, business and politics used the online event to learn about the rapid developments and innovative solutions with practical relevance in the field of eHealth in exciting presentations. The event focused on the topic: Digital solutions as a catalyst for a sustainable healthcare system - Which paths are we taking?

5th eHealth Symposium Southwest moderated by (f.l.t.r) Andreas Klüter, Peter Förster, Stefan Kohl and Dr. Stefan WeilerFurther introductory words by Andreas Klüter, CTO and Managing Director of Empolis Information Management GmbH, in the Event Area

The development of a telematics infrastructure, which is intended to securely digitally network the players in the healthcare system and improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of medical care, poses major challenges for hospitals in particular. In their presentation, Frank Ebling, Head of the IT Department at Westpfalz-Klinikum, and Dr. med. Alexander Jatzko, Chief Physician of the Clinic for Psychosomatics at Westpfalz-Klinikum, gave an insight into the issues and obstacles that the introduction of electronic patient records and co. entails.

The University Medical Center Mannheim is also taking new paths toward a digital future, having opened a so-called Living Lab station in 2021, an interdisciplinary station with real patients, open to startups and companies. "By providing a test field in everyday clinical practice, we support them in the development of digital health products," says project manager Mirjam Schleske. One example is Cliniserve GmbH, whose app provides support in task management and communication between hospital employees. "Our goal is to enable nursing staff to spend more time on the essentials through our digital solutions," says CEO Julian Nast-Kolb.  

Julian Nast-Kolb, CEO of Clinserve, presenting the app

The increase in electronic data is both a curse and a blessing in everyday clinical life, and intelligent support systems were presented in several lectures. "To identify patients at risk in cardiology, more than 500 data points from various sources such as medical history and wearables need to be brought together," said Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Dieterich of Heidelberg University Hospital.

Julian Specht, CSO and Co-Founder of living brain GmbH, and his team have developed software that supports patients in cognitive rehabilitation after neurological diseases. The new therapy method can be used at any time and in any place. The focus is on training everyday life. "To do this, we combine psychological learning strategies, therapy science and virtual reality," explains Specht. "Because we understand that rehabilitation has to be available everywhere and help the patient in everyday life!"

The five-year-old startup inveox aims to digitize and automate pathology labs to prevent errors in cancer diagnosis. To do so, the company has developed a system that defines a new standard. "This will increase the safety and reliability of cancer diagnoses. At the same time, it increases the efficiency and profitability of laboratories and speeds up the processing of tissue samples," says Maria Sievert, CEO and co-founder of inveox GmbH.

Maria Sievert, CEO and Co-Founder of inveox, in conversation

This year's numerous presentations once again made it clear that digitization has already brought about groundbreaking changes in the healthcare sector. This development has received a significant innovation boost, not least due to the Corona pandemic.

Andreas Klüter, CTO and Managing Director of Empolis Information Management GmbH sums up: "In its fifth year, the eHealth Symposium Southwest has once again demonstrated its position as a fixed institution for digital innovations in healthcare. This platform is thus an important contribution to the urgently needed transformation to the healthcare industry of the future." 

"Digitization succeeds when bright minds meet and are open to innovative ideas. The eHealth Symposium once again made an impressive contribution to this," says Stefan Kohl, Managing Director of 5-HT Digital Hub Chemistry & Health.

Dr. Stefan Weiler, Managing Director of the Business + Innovation Center Kaiserslautern (bic) adds: "We will continue to keep an eye on digital advances in the healthcare industry and make them visible to the public!"

"The digitization of the German healthcare system brings with it many challenges and questions. But the eHealth Symposium has once again shown that it also brings many opportunities. I would like to thank everyone who presented their creative and innovative solutions to us at this event. This gives us hope that together we can master the challenges of digitization," says Peter Förster, Managing Director of Westpfalz-Klinikum GmbH.

The eHealth Symposium is a joint event of Business + Innovation Center Kaiserslautern (bic), Empolis Information Management GmbH, 5-HT Digital Hub Chemistry & Health and Westpfalz-Klinikum GmbH.