Full and Associated Members of the European Association
Full Members of the European Association
Austria
Computers and information systems have become very important for medicine and for the health sciences. At the beginning of the 21st Century, information technology, computer science, knowledge management and communication engineering are of increasing importance as interfaces between patients, health professionals and health organisations. Improved medical technology has helped doctors to raise the level of health care. Advanced communication technology enables modern telemedicine applications. Biomedical Informatics becomes more and more relevant because of the huge synergies between medical informatics and bioinformatics.
The Austrian working group for Medical Informatics aims at bringing together informaticians and engineers together with clinicans and with other health professionals for further enhancement of the health services. The working group is part of the Austrian Society of Biomedical Engineering (ÖGBMT) and of the Austrian Computer Society (OCG).
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Society carries out the following activities: Promotion and improvement of informatics within the health-care system, health insurance and bio-medical research Engagement of experts in the field of medical informatics in B&H on development and establishment of health care information systems Assistance in research, development and professional work in the field of medical informatics in B&H Distribution and development of technical information in the field of medical informatics in B&H Assistance in education of medical informatics experts Exchange of professional experience on national and international level Publishing activities in the field of medical informatics.
Belgium
The Belgian Society for Medical Informatics ("MIM") was established in 1974 to promote and develop medical information science and technology in Belgium. It is a national bilingual (French and Dutch) society consisting of about 300 members, all involved or interested in the use of computers and telematics in the health-care environment. The administrative board includes 15 members (physicians, engineers and computers specialists) from academic institutions, hospitals, computers and the software industry. The MIM is a scientific society. Its major activities focus on improving communication among researchers and developers in the field of medical computing and telematics. It is also the place of choice where problems related to the role of medical informatics in society and its ethical aspects are discussed.
Bulgaria
National Center of Health Informatics is a health institution in the structure of the National Healthcare System dealing with the problems of public health.
The "E-Health Bulgaria" Foundation is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization. It was established with the purpose to boost the development of the e-health on a national level as a part of the electronic government of the Republic of Bulgaria. The necessity of speeding up the health reform in Bulgaria requires the development of the electronic healthcare as a cornerstone in our health system. In this process the Foundation collaborates with all participants and interested parties in the healthcare process - Ministry of Healthcare, NHIF /National Health Insurance Fund/, private health insurance funds, hospitals, GPs, pharmacies, laboratories, medical doctors and patients.
We have the strong will to partner and join forces with international institutions and associations, the European Commission and other European bodies that focus on the development e-Europe and e-health as one of its vital components. Electronic healthcare covers several aspects - integrated information systems, electronic health records, electronic health cards, e-learning, delivering online health services - towards the development of which, the efforts of the Foundation are targeted.
Czech Republic
The European Centre for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology (EuroMISE Centre) was established on April 12th, 1994 as a joint workplace of Charles University in Prague and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic with the support of European projects. Research activities of the EuroMISE Center have been significantly supported by seven European projects and several national grants. In the years 2000-2004 the EuroMISE Center was supported in the national programme of research centres by Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. This support enabled extending the EuroMISE Center with three new organizations University of Economics in Prague, General University Hospital in Prague and Municipal Hospital in Caslav. The Centre gains financial resources for research and development, education, teaching and other professional activities from various projects and grants, from sponsorship and from own professional activities. The Centre cooperates closely with hospitals, research institutes and other universities and professional societies. EuroMISE Centre by its activities gradually created a new field of biomedical informatics in the Czech Republic. In the year 2001 the cooperation of the Department of Medical Informatics, Institute of Computer Science Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague within the EuroMISE Centre led to the establishment of a new Specialist Board of “Biomedical Informatics” in the system of postgraduate Ph.D. studies of biomedicine at Charles University in Prague. Research and development in EuroMISE Centre have been focused on electronic health record, standards and interoperability issues, e-health applications, decision support systems, knowledge discovery and formalization, medical guidelines, information theory, advanced statistical methods in clinics, epidemiology, genetics and forensic sciences.
The mission of ESEM is to establish a platform of cooperation between medicine and engineering on a European basis.
Such a bridge between medicine and engineering is vital in today's highly technological multi-disciplinary health care. Without this, medical doctors cannot keep up with rapidly developing health care technology and cannot provide their patients with state-of-the-art medical diagnosis and treatment. Equally, without close contact with medical doctors, engineers cannot focus their efforts upon the most pressing medical problems.
ESEM's mission brings benefits to medicine, to engineering and hence to the community, by supporting and identifying to medical doctors current and developing engineering contributions and technical developments in medicine; and by identifying for engineers specific medical problems which need to be solved by appropriate technological means.
France
CATEL is an association created in october 1997. It has become a network of nearly 11 000 contacts concerned by telemedecine (practitioners, firms, associations, institutions, labs...), and more than 600 active members.
Our Goal - contributing to the development of telemedicine by:
ORGANISING MEETINGS
The yearly Interregional Telemedicine Day (in multisite visioconferencing with partners in France and abroad) and four annual Thematic Meetings
INFORMING
By the internet website www.portailtelesante.org(more than 4 500 articles), the Flash News, monthly Newsletter, the meeting reports, publications...
CONSULTING
Support to the evaluation of developing projects, appraise and launching of new applications of telemedicine.
Georgia
Georgian Telemedicine Union (Association) is a not-for-profit organization founded on March 26, 2004. This is a voluntary organization, which represents a new, cost-effective way of consultation and education in the Internet. Our mission is to improve and control the quality of diagnosis and to provide better health care in the Republic of Georgia. All individuals and organizations interested about telemedicine, related to its topics and improvement of the Georgian health sector are highly welcomed.
Greece
The Greek Health Informatics Association aims to evolve and promote the scientific field of Health Informatics. Health Informatics is the scientific discipline concerned with the systematic processing of data, information and knowledge in health care. Its domain covers computational and informational aspects of processes and structures in health care. Its aim is to study all the applications of informatics and computer science in Health Sciences (Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Biology, and Pharmacy) and health care.
Activities:
The scientific Greek Health Informatics Association (GHIA) specializes in research, training and documentation of Health Informatics in terminology, documentation and standardization.
Members:
Members of GHIA can become university graduate individuals who have a special scientific interest in the evolving and study of Health Informatics.
Establishment:
GHIA first was established by a court decision on 1997 and an amendment was endorsed in 2000.
Croatia
The Croatian Society for Medical Informatics is a non-profit organization concerned with the scientific field of medical informatics, which comprises the theory and practice of information science and technology within health care and health care science. The basic objectivities of the CSMI are as follows:
- to advance dissemination of information in the field of MI in Croatia,
- to promote high standards in the application of work in this field,
- to promote research and development in this field,
- to encourage high standards in education in this field,
- to advance international cooperation in this field.
Hungary
Italy
Lithuania
Kaunas University of Medicine is the largest institution of medical education and training in Lithuania. Its history goes back to 1919, when by the decision of Kaunas Medical Society the Higher Medical Courses had been established, which developed into the Faculty of Medicine of Kaunas University in 1922. Later on in 1950 the of Medicine was transformed into Kaunas Medical Institute, which in turn was reorganized into Kaunas Medical Academy in 1989. In 1998 Kaunas Medical Academy by the decision of Lithuanian Parliament was renamed in to Kaunas University of Medicine
Moldova
Netherlands
Nictiz - the National IT Institute for Healthcare in the Netherlands - is the national coordination point and knowledge centre for IT and innovation in the healthcare sector.
The national switch point forms the core of electronic communication in the sector, which is managed by Nictiz. Any authorized healthcare practitioner can be connected to the switch point so that he or she can obtain the latest and most relevant information about a patient at any time, from anywhere in the Netherlands and in a simple, secure and reliable way.
In consultation with and at the request of the healthcare sector, Nictiz is continuously developing and refining national standards for electronic communications in healthcare. Furthermore, Nictiz supports the sector in developing functional IT solutions that can be used nationwide, and contributes to policy making on IT issues as they relate to healthcare on a national and international level.
Norway
The Norwegian Centre for Integrated Care and Telemedicine (NST) is a centre of research and expertise that gathers, produces and disseminates knowledge about telemedicine services, both in Norway and internationally. The goal is to ensure the integration of telemedicine services. NST is an internationally known organization and was chosen as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Telemedicine in 2002.
The NST is together with several partners building a scientific environment within telemedicine and eHealth. Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory (TTL) was established in 2006 as a Centre for Research-Based Innovation and are combining human caring with new technologies, in order to provide better health care and reduce the growing burden on the health care system.
Poland
Portugal
The observatory, or in full, the European Health Telematics Observatory, was started in 1996 as an initiative to support the dissemination and advancement of medical informatics and telematics research and development. in Europe. EHTO was an accompanying measure of the Health Telematics Application Programme, funded by the Commission of the European Union (1994 - 1998)
Romania
The Romanian society for medical informatics, RSMI, is a scientific, professional, non-governmental organization aimed to promote the activities in the development of medical informatics in Romania and to represent the activities in the country and abroad. The activities of RSMI concern stimulation and co-ordination of the activities of its members in promoting medical informatics in the country and to support international co-operation in this field.
Serbia
Slovenia
The Slovenian Medical Informatics Association - SIMIA is a professional, non-governmental organization aimed to promote activities in the development of medical informatics in Slovenia as well as further in the countries of EU and to represent these activities in the country and abroad. SIMIA was founded already in 1986 and has now almost 100 members mostly professionals working in the field of medical informatics. The activities of SIMIA concern stimulation and co-ordination of the activities of its members in promoting medical informatics in the country and to support international co-operation in this field, which implies:
- organization of scientific and professional conferences, symposia, courses and exhibitions and collaboration in such activities with related organizations;
- publication of scientific, professional and educational documents and papers in the field of medical informatics;
- dissemination of information about conferences, publications and links to websites web sites on medical and health informatics
- promotion of scientific and professional contacts with similar societies at the international level;
- active involvement to support scientists to attend international meetings;
- publishing of scientific magazine Informatica Medica Slovenica (IMS).
Turkey
TurkMIA (Turkish Medical Informatics Association) was founded in 1999 in Ankara. It is a civil organization open to all Turkish citizens, people who has work permit in Turkey, companies and organizations which has interest on health informatics. It has 560 members.
TurkMIA started SBS 2000 (Health Information Strategies of Turkey in the New Millenium) project in June 2000. Final reports were collected in a book, which is printed in 2001. This book have been the core document which guides the studies in health informatics area in Turkey.
TurkMIA organizes regular meetings, panels and presentations to disseminate health informatics concepts, create awareness. TurkMIA is a membersociety of IMIA and EFMI.
Ukraine
Ukrainian Association for Computer Medicine (UACM) - independent not governmental noncommercial organization, was set up in August 1992 in Kharkiv, where the IV World Congress of World Federation of Ukrainian Physicians Societies was taking place.
UACM became a national member of International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) in September 1993 (Kyoto, Japan).
In May 1994 UACM was adopted as a National Member of European Federation of Medical Informatics (EFMI) at the IV European Congress on Medical Informatics (Lisbon, Portugal).
In 2007 UACM became the National member of the European Association of Healthcare IT Managers (HITM).
UACM unites 85 scientific research institutes, universities, scientific societies, enterprises and hospitals, Internet providers, software companies, computer medical equipment companies and insurance companies. Over 1600 specialists are individual members of the UACM.
Association for Ukrainian Telemedicine and eHealth Development - non-profit public organisation, which was created for the integration of scientific and practical potential of all members for an effective development and introduction of professional activity in fields of telemedicine, eHealth, medical informatics and cybernetics, also - protection of social, professional, lawful etc interests of the members. Basic principles of AfUTeHD - democracy, free will, equal rights, autonomy and publicity for all members. Since 1st January 2007 AfUTeHD – National member of International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH). Main direction of activity: development of regional and national telemedicine networks; development and support of standards and protocols in field of telemedicine and eHealth; participation in development of laws for telemedicine and eHealth; methodic and scientific provision of telemedicine in Ukraine; testing of equipment in conditions of Ukrainian health care system; development of organization, clinical, economical, technical, legal and ethical decisions for telemedicine and eHealth in Ukraine; support of national telemedicine projects; organisation of annual events (scientific conferences, schools, workshops etc); dissemination of knowledge. Official Journal - peer-reviewed "Ukrainian Journal of Telemedicine and Medical Telematics". Annual Conference - "Telemedicine - Experience@Prospects" (in March).
