European populations are aging, degenerative as well as chronic diseases are on the rise. As a result, healthcare systems are struggling with ever growing costs. At the same time patients are becoming more and more informed and demand better health care services and access to specialists and specialized treatments. How can these challenges be best met and in what ways can healthcare be improved?

To find the answers to these and other questions, Health IT experts from all over Europe are coming together to share best practices, network and present new health applications at the 3rd annual Health 2.0 Europe conference on November 6-7, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. Health 2.0 Europe is part of a global conference series that has been the leading showcase of cutting-edge innovation transforming healthcare since 2007. This year the organizers are planning events in San Francisco, Berlin, Dubai, Bangalore, São Paulo and Singapore.

At the Berlin conference, over 75 expert speakers will discuss and demo innovative solutions for building patient and health professional communities, enhancing clinical workflow, promoting chronic care and population health management, encouraging health and wellness, and improving clinical and financial outcomes. The technologies introduced and showcased at the conference are largely developed by European health start-ups and entrepreneurs. To foster this vibrant community even more, Health 2.0 Europe 2012 is featuring a "code-a-thon", a live event taking place over the course of 2 days and bringing together developers, designers, innovators and entrepreneurs to build exciting new health applications. Health 2.0 Europe 2012 is also partnering with the first ever Janssen Healthcare Innovation "Connected Care Challenge Europe", a start-up as well as small and medium enterprises (SME) competition designed to spur and drive innovation towards achieving better care at lower costs.

"Apps and peer-to-peer networks have made innovative healthcare services accessible and attractive. These apps are getting to be increasingly important tools for patient management, adherence and patient self-management in the quantified self world", explains Roman Rittweger, MD, Founder & Managing Partner of Roman Rittweger Advisors in Healthcare regarding the impact that Health 2.0 has had on the health care sector. "Some of the technological innovations that will be presented at the Health 2.0 conference will help patients to become well informed and equipped to become managers of their own health, so I am very much looking forward to hearing the latest developments from all health IT fields."

Double click for health advice

Health 2.0 applications and technologies have a special advantage for patients. Traditionally one of the biggest challenges in health care has been transparency. With patients blogging about their experiences with treatments and doctors and with more and more medical information freely available online, the Internet is changing the landscape rapidly and has already made a substantial impact on the European health care market.

In fact, many doctors have felt an important change in the doctor-patient relationship: patients now come to their physicians better informed and ready to discuss the symptoms and conditions they read about online. "E-commerce taught patients to also expect specialized advice that comes without months of waiting for an appointment, they want it so to speak with a double click", says Alexander Börve, CEO of iDoc24. "I believe Health 2.0 will make healthcare more accessible for all citizens. We need services that can identify patients to receive the right level of care at the right time. Health 2.0 can possibly be one of the best ways to achieve this."

"The global Health 2.0 movement has evolved very rapidly since our first conference in San Francisco in 2007" says Pascal Lardier, International Director at Health 2.0. "We now have more than 45 active Health 2.0 Chapters around the world. Payers, providers, and health authorities are getting involved everywhere. Pharma companies understand their business is no longer about selling pills. And the App Store counts more than 9000 health-related applications!"

Save the date
Health 2.0 Europe Conference in Berlin
Venue: Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus, Charité Hospital and University of Medicine
Luisenstrasse 58/59, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Date: Tuesday, November 6th 2012, 9.00 am- 18.30 pm
Wednesday, November 7th 2012, 9.00 am - 17.30 pm

Code-a-thon: Saturday, November 3rd 2012, 9.00 am -18.00 pm
Sunday, November 4th 2012, 9.00 am -18.00 pm

More information on the conference and the program are available online here.

Get a 25% discount for the conference when you register with the Promo code "AVISO"