Professionals from the health and business worlds, as well as representatives of Public Administrations met today at The 25th Health Technology Gathering, held by Fenin (Spanish Health Technology Federation) and ESADE Business School. The gathering debated the challenges facing the sector in advancing a patient-centred approach to the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of diseases.

The slogan for this year’s event was ‘Technology for Life and Patient-focused Treatment’. During the inauguration, Fenin’s Vice-President, Enrique Álvarez said “It is not enough to only offer more innovative solutions delivering both quality and safety. Rather, health care needs to focus on patients’ needs because that is our priority. The industry’s efforts are making diagnoses safer and more accurate, techniques less invasive, and treatment more targeted and efficient”.

The Secretary-General for Health, Faustino Blanco, commented "We are convinced that a joint road map for innovation should be drawn up, for it will greatly benefit both the National Health System and the Health Industry as a whole. The reasons for this optimism lie in: society’s present technological development; our experience in innovation; the implementation of Health Big Data; high-speed networks; the efforts made by universities; the great potential of technology companies based in Spain."

Koldo Echebarria, ESADE’s Director-General, also took part in the inauguration and welcomed attendees. A lecture was given by Dr. Valentín Fuster, Director-General of Spain’s Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares [National Centre for Cardiovascular Research] (CNIC) and Director of the Cardiovascular Institute at The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. The title of his talk was "Scientific Bases of Health: Integration of Heart and Brain”.

"Medical Technology has made giant strides and is now vital for making early diagnoses and for treating cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, it is a tool that is only effective in the hands of medical professionals when they know when and how it should be used, and how results should be interpreted. That is why they must also take part in the design and validation of such technology", explained Valentín Fuster, Director-General of the CNIC.

Health Technology’s revolutionary contribution

One of the most important aspects covered in the 25th Gathering’s Round Table (in which various sections of Fenin took part) was Health Technology’s evolution and contribution to clinical processes and quality of life.

These advances can be seen in the Ophthalmology field. Ana Isabel Gómez, Treasurer of Fenin’s Ophthalmology Section, noted the technological leap made over the last 20 years. “Surgical and diagnostic equipment, the advances in material, the design of implants, display systems and devices have all revolutionised the sector, helping patients recover faster, making surgery ever less invasive, providing outstanding safety, and increasingly accurate diagnoses”, she said.

The President of the In-Vitro Diagnostics Section, Alfred Serra, noted that “In-Vitro Diagnostics help in the detection, prevention, diagnosis, monitoring, prognosis, and screening of diseases. This information lets clinical decisions be taken that are crucial for delivering better, more efficient medicine. Precision medicine will boost the role of diagnostics even further, for example in the combination of bio-genetic markers and pharmacological approaches to treat diseases such as cancer, opening a path that may be taken to treat other conditions”.

In the field of Clinical Information Systems (CIS), Fenin’s President for this sector, David García, went on to say that “A pressing need is to implement a National Plan for the Renewal of Health Technology so as to improve processes, provide smart data analysis and, above all, help health professionals with decision-making and the personalisation of patient care. Such a plan would foster inter-operability among Spanish Regions’ health systems and thus optimise equity and efficiency in patients’ access to health. This would help make the health system much more sustainable”. If we fail to meet this challenge, the Public Health System could collapse within 10

Belén Soto, President of Fenin’s Digital Health Section, stressed that the digital revolution requires a different approach to health care given that “It is not a question of doing the same with technology but rather of discovering how to provide innovative services with what is available”. This transformation “should not only be a technological one but also needs to shape the health care model”.

The Economic Outlook for 2019

Last but not least, Prof. Josep M. Comajuncosa of ESADE’s Department of Economics, Finance, and Accountancy, described the present economic situation and the outlook for the rest of the year. He said that “Economic growth will be fairly weak throughout 2019, especially in developed countries. On the bright side, growth in emerging economies will hold up”.

A full-blown Trade War between The United States and China is one of the biggest threats to the economy. Other risks are political rifts in the EU (exacerbated by Brexit), over-indebtedness, and EU-scepticism, which may lead to a new funding crisis for Southern European nations. Prof. Comajuncosa said that another threat to economic growth is that China’s authorities have yet to strike the right balance between expansionist fiscal and monetary policies to offset the impact of the trade dispute with the US on the one hand, and to ensure the stability of China’s financial sector on the other.