Europe faces two significant developments: an increasingly agreed society and the rapid movement of digitization and AI-based systems in almost all areas of life-also in medicine.
How can technological innovations help relieve the care and health system, especially in the area of geriatric medicine, to improve the quality of care and to increase efficiency sustainably?
The session devoted itself to these and other questions and illuminates solutions from business, research and politics.
The former German Health Minister Hermann Gröhe opened the afternoon at this year’s European Forum Wachau. This emphasized the central importance of globally oriented health policy. “I am very pleased that the Europa-Forum Wachau is the topic global health focuses on. Health knows no boundaries-this shows not only corona pandemic, but also challenges such as antibiotic resistance. Even the best health policy on site only has an effect if it is embedded in international strategies. Global health is not a “luxury topic”, but a prerequisite for sustainable solutions. At the same time, it opens up opportunities: Europe is a leader in the development of medical technologies, diagnostics and medicines – a contribution that is used worldwide. That is why global health is a strategic topic of the future, which we rightly pay attention to, ”says Hermann Gröhe.
Afterwards there was a panel discussion under the direction of Sebastian Mörth (intuitive futures forum Berlin). On the podium, Dr. Elisabeth Bräutzam (Lower Austria State Health Agency), Anton Dunzendorfer (AIT), Christian Fohringer (emergency call Lower Austria), Alexandra Kautzky -Willer (MedUni Vienna), Thomas Pieber (Meduni Graz) and Judit Simon (MedUni Vienna) on current challenges and perspectives in the field of health policy and care.
For Dr. Elisabeth groom from the Lower Austrian State Health Agency is of great importance to exchange beyond national borders. “The Europa-Forum Wachau offers the opportunity to exchange ideas and share experiences across institutional and country borders. I am very pleased that we as a Lower Austria state health agency can also be part of the health and health care of the future this year. And to ensure the following generations.
Anton Dunzendorfer from the Austrian Institute of Technology underlined that the latest technologies are already available in order to effectively relieve and supplement skilled workers. “In Austria, numerous technologies and opportunities are already available to support employees in healthcare- or to at least partially replace those specialists who are no longer available in sufficient numbers. The spectrum ranges from the latest sensors to innovative information and communication technologies to the integration and use of health data- as the basis for the use of methods of artificial intelligence,” says Anton Dunzendorfer.
Panel moderator Sebastian Mörth sees an older manner to make the health system sustainable with the help of trustworthy, inclusive technologies. “Aging is not only a challenge, but also an impulse to develop our healthcare system future -proof.