CEBIT 2018: "Digital Health" explores impacts of digitization

We live in a brave new world where health apps collect data about our bodies and fitness, operations are streamed live around the globe and doctors’ appointments are made online. Digital health solutions pose a whole set of new challenges to the health system. The d!talk healthcare conference at CEBIT 2018 (13. June 2018, 10.30 – 15.30 h) will explore these challenges and their ramifications for patients and doctors in the course of its comprehensive lecture program.

d!talk healthcare conference a window on the future of medicine
lecture program covers key trends in the healthcare sector

Many speakers have already confirmed their participation, among them Axel Wehmeier, spokesperson for the Management Board of Deutsche Telekom Healthcare and Security Solutions, whose keynote will focus on “Connectivity”.

This year’s d!talk healthcare conference on Digital Health explores the impacts of digitization on the healthcare sector as well as state-of-the-art ICT applications and their ability to optimize healthcare service delivery. According to a survey by German ICT association BITKOM and Bayrische TelemedAllianz (BTA), around 45% of German smartphone owners use health apps to monitor and record body and fitness related data. Germans are also increasingly requesting digital versions of their patient information. 32% of respondents had already received test results on CD-ROM, while 43% stated that they would prefer to receive their test results in digital form in the future.

Even so, the market for digital health applications is still largely impenetrable for health-sector stakeholders, be they end users, health insurance providers, health professionals or medical companies. This is due to the sheer number of solutions on offer and the highly dynamic nature of the market, which is characterized by continual comings and goings of new products, services and functionality. Reservations about the adequacy of data protection are another factor, with some 74% of Germans calling for the right to have a say in how their digital medical data are processed and used.

“Digitization is poised to transform medical science and clinical practice in a way that is nothing short of revolutionary,” commented Dr. Matthias P. Schönermark, M.D., as the Managing Director of SKC Beratungsgesellschaft mbH, a partner of this year’s d!talk healthcare conference. “That said, healthcare is a relatively conservative sector, so it lags somewhat behind others, such as the consumer goods, retail or finance sectors,” he added. “But that puts healthcare in the highly advantageous position of being able to avoid the mistakes made in other sectors while at the same time using the new digital realities of those sectors as models and sources of inspiration. With its new, unique approach, CEBIT enables visitors to take stock of all aspects of digital health in a single day. Where are we now? What are the options for digitization in the healthcare sector and where are we headed? What can we learn from others? What does digital healthcare actually look like? In terms of sheer focus and breadth of coverage of digital health themes, no event even comes close to the new CEBIT with its d!talk healthcare conference on 13 June 2018.”

The d!talk healthcare conference at CEBIT 2018 will explore digital health from every angle. The conference’s supporting partners are the German ICT association BITKOM, Gesundheitswirtschaft Hannover e. V., medcon & more GmbH and SKC Beratungsgesellschaft mbH. The conference is where speakers, decision makers and influencers from the digital healthcare and health insurance sectors will meet for quality discussion and networking.

Confirmed speakers to date:

Dr. Axel Wehmeier, spokesperson for the Management Board of Deutsche Telekom Healthcare and Security Solutions: “Connectivity”
Dr. Werner Eberhardt, Chief Product Officer, SAP Connect Health: “Big Data and Analytics”
Dr. Daniel Sonntag, Principal Researcher and Research Fellow, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) Saarbrücken, Editor-in-Chief of Cognitive Technologies and the German Journal on Artificial Intelligence: “Artificial Intelligence”
Dr. Markus Fischmann, Professor for Animation and VFX, Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HsH), Director of the Institute for Digital Media (idm), Co-founder of digitalfish GmbH: “Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality”
Dr. Jens Baas, Chairman of the Executive Board, “Die Techniker Krankenkasse” health insurance fund: “Electronic Medical Records as the Core of Digital Integration”
Sebastian Pitzler, Managing Director, Insurlab Germany e. V.: “The Future of (Health) Insurance in the Digital Age”
Siegmar Nesch, Deputy Chairman of the Board, AOK Baden-Württemberg health insurance fund: “Digital Transformation: The AOK Baden-Württemberg Use Case”
Dusty Majumdar PhD, VP and Chief Marketing Officer, IBM Watson Health and IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences: “Does Cognitive Computing disrupt Healthcare as we know it?”