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European Heart Journal 2004 25(7):611-616; doi:10.1016/j.ehj.2004.02.015
Copyright © 2004 by the European Society of Cardiology.
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Special ESC report

Patient access to medical technology across Europe

Lars Rydéna,*, Graham Stokoeb, Gunter Breithardtc, Fred Lindemansd and Adriaan Potgietere on behalf of Task Force 2 of the Cardiovascular Round Table of the European Society of Cardiology

a Department of Cardiology, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
b Guidant Europe, Diegem, Belgium
c Department of Cardiology and Angiology, Münster University Hospital, Münster, Germany
d Medtronic Bakken Research Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
e European Society of Cardiology, Sophia Antipolis, France

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +46-8-51772171; fax: +46-8-311044
E-mail address: lars.ryden{at}ks.se

Received 8 February 2004; accepted 24 February 2004

Abstract

Access to medical technology differs across Europe. Differences in funding and reimbursement systems create barriers for the adoption of new and innovative medical technology. It is obvious that a joint effort between representatives from the industry and the profession has great potential to emphasise inequitable discrepancies and thereby improve the availability of accepted innovations in cardiovascular medicine. It is equally obvious that future efforts to overcome such restrictions to availability must be directed at the individual country level. The involvement of the profession, perhaps best accomplished by activation of National Cardiac Societies, will be mandatory for success. Collaboration with the industry is then a likely key factor for success. Presently there seems to be a great lack of knowledge and interest for this important aspect of a well functioning health care system and the responsibility to improve it remains with the professional societies. They need to allocate time and resources for this purpose, educate their members and lobby within their countries with the ambition to create better, more uniform and transparent procedures, and to become natural partners in the funding and reimbursement processes.

Key Words: Medical technology • Availability • Health care provision • Health care economy


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