EH 2_2016

www.gbo.com/preanalytics Greiner Bio-One GmbH | Bad Haller Straße 32 | A-4550 Kremsmünster Phone: (+43) 75 83 67 91-0 | Fax: (+43) 75 83 63 18 | E-mail: office@at.gbo.com • For the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and gestational diabetes • Unique additive mixture in the tube • Immediate stabilisation based on the in vivo value for 48 hours • Prevents false negative diagnoses • Longer sample stabilisation enables longer transport • Stabilisation in whole blood, no immediate centrifugation required The birth of the new VACUETTE® FC Mix tube Glucose Stabilisation Right from the Beginning NEWS & MANAGEMENT from page 1 nise refugee screening tuberculosis in immigrant workers between 2011 and 2014. Immigrant workers from South East Asian coun- tries, where tuberculosis is highly endemic, had a two-fold higher risk for TB than domestic resi- dents. Active screenings increased the number of cases diagnosed at an earlier stage of the disease, when it is less infectious, thereby reducing the diseases burden. Brazil Another challenge in the manage- ment of diseases affecting immi- grants was illustrated by an abstract presented by researchers on adher- ence for anti-parasitic treatment in primary care centres in the city of São Paulo. The researchers reported a lack of adherence in Bolivian immigrants with Chagas disease, a parasitic disease that is in rural areas where poverty is widespread and where it is easily transmitted to people by insect vectors. B.M.. The free ride is over! At Europe’s most prestigious medi- cal conferences, as many as half of the doctors attending are only there because of the generous sponsor- ship by pharmaceutical and medical technology companies. John Brosky reports. The practice has been going on for decades, to the point that con- tinuing medical education (CME) in Europe is heavily dependent on the largess of these companies. In 2018 it all comes to an end when a new Code of Conduct adopted by the European Medical Technology Industry Association comes into effect. ‘We are aligning our association’s code of conduct with the United States, China, and many countries of Latin America where the direct sponsoring of a physician is not allowed and you can only support CME through educational grants,’ said Serge Bernasconi, who leads Europe MedTech, an alliance of European medical technology indus- try associations. ‘This is making some of the medi- cal societies very nervous,’ he added. Annual medical congresses with large industry exhibitions have become a rich source of revenue for many professional medical socie- ties, and what is worrying them is that without industry support, many congress participants simply would not have the budget to be able to attend. The USA enacted the Physician Payments Sunshine Act Sunshine act in 2010, to create greater transpar- ency in doctor-industry relations. When the law was put into effect in 2013 with enforcement by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, physician participation at annual congresses dropped by as much as 50 percent. The European Society of Radiology, which puts on the annual European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, has discussed the impact of the new Code of Conduct inter- nally, but has not made public any decision about actions it will take, according to a spokesperson. Europe’s interventional cardiolo- gists did go public with their protest with an editorial in EuroIntervention, urgently calling for a delay in enact- ment of the Europe MedTech rules. Patrick Serruys, M.D., Editor-in- Chief of EuroIntervention, wrote in an Expedited Editorial Publication published in November, 2015 that the new Code of Conduct ‘will prob- ably not affect key opinion leaders, but will affect the more vulnerable categories of healthcare profession- als such as younger colleagues, nurses and technicians. The juniors of today may not benefit from the grants allocated to hospitals, espe- cially at the early stages of their careers, nor will nurses and allied professionals.’ Joining Serruys as co-authors of the editorial were William Wijns, MD, Chairman of the PCR (Paris Revascularisation Course) group that organises a series of highly successful conferences for inter- ventional cardiologists implant- ing stents and heart valves, and Stephan Windecker MD, President of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Dr Des Breen, Medical Director for the Working Together Programme said: ‘This test bed has the potential to revolutionise the way healthcare is delivered. By reshaping the care pathways and with the aid of tech- nology, patients will be empowered to take care of their own long-term conditions.’ Innovations that prove successful will later be made available for other parts of the country to adopt and adapt to the particular needs of their local populations. Medtech industry will stop paying physicians to attend medical conferences Continued on page 4 3 www.healthcare-in-europe.com Phone: (+43) 75836791-0 | Fax: (+43) 75836318 | E-mail: office@at.gbo.com

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