"Individualized medicine through medical technology" – SKC co-authors the acatech position paper

Fri, 2017 / 10 / 20
On the annual meeting of the German Society for Biomedical Technology (DGBMT) and the 3-country meeting of the German Society for Medical Physics (DGMP) in September 2017, the position paper "Individualized Medicine through Medical Technology" was published by the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). Based on the assumptions of an ever-aging society characterized by chronic and multiple diseases, the increased demand for preventive services and the tendency to put the individual patient orientation more and more into the spotlight of healthcare, the expert panel comprising the fields of biomedicine, ethics, law, regulation and economics, supported by the managing director of SKC, Prof. Dr. Matthias P. Schönermark, emphasizes the increasing significance of individualized medicine through medical technology and the challenges involved. Key aspects of discussion have been, inter alia, the role of medical innovations as a solid and necessary component of a high-quality and economically expedient health care provision as well as the impact of digitalization on ethical, legal, economic and regulatory challenges.

The recommendations for action proposed by the expert panel for a future-oriented individualized medicine through and by means of medical technology address four basic levels:

1.    Funding and support of basic research in the field of individualized medicine: This includes a needs-oriented further development and implementation of digitalization in medicine as the basic prerequisite for individualized medicine, the systematic development, testing and validation of patient models as well as knowledge-based information and counselling systems and the exploration of new materials and production techniques in the context of individualized medicine.

2.    Promotion of innovation processes: Key elements of this dimension are the strengthening and establishment of interdisciplinary and interinstitutional collaborations in the form of regional centres of excellence and the establishment of a national body, which defines the criteria and guidelines for the assessments of effectiveness, quality and benefit of individualized medical devices and procedures.

3.    Creation of adequate organizational conditions: It is recommended to merge the medical research and market access activities in the form of a virtual national centre of excellence for individualized medical technology to concentrate the large but currently fragmented potential of medical technology in Germany. In addition, the experts recommend the establishment of a committee on medical technology within the German Research Association, the further development of funding programs of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on individualized medicine as well as structural adjustments of the health care system in order to implement cost evaluations and benefit assessments of medical technology in the field of individualized medicine.

4.    Further support of accompanying research and public relations: Lastly, there is a need for action in the area of ​​structural research in the fields of regulation, economics, reimbursement, care research and the acceptance of individualized medicine in society.

The position paper "Individualized medicine through medical technology" once again shows that the future field of digitalization has innovative and disruptive traits in parallel. Through digitization, new, integrated solutions are created by interdisciplinary cooperation, whereby prevention, diagnosis and therapy can experience a qualitatively and economically driven paradigm shift. At the same time, the disruptive character of digitization becomes even more obvious when number, type and the balance of power within market participants changes, the significance and function of patients and their data is significantly modified, previous value-added processes are turned upside down and the rigid regulatory corset is showing cracks For further information, please note the following links:

http://www.acatech.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Baumstruktur_nach_Website/Acatech/root/de/Publikationen/Stellungnahmen/acatech_POSITION_Indiv-Medizintechnik_WEB.pdf

http://www.acatech.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Baumstruktur_nach_Website/Acatech/root/de/Publikationen/Stellungnahmen/acatech_Kurzfassung_POSITION_Indiv-Medizintechnik.pdf

http://www.acatech.de/de/ueber-uns/profil.html

 

 

 
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