08:49 AM
Digital healthcare regulators, experts and developers discussed the Digital Health Applications (DiGA) process, and yesterday’s (24 Feb) Evidence Con session was designed to help innovators find out more about the new evidence requirements for the assessment of digital products in Germany.
The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) is responsible for the DiGA Fast-Track, which is now up and running. Eleven medical apps to help treat a range of conditions, such as tinnitus and insomnia, have already been listed - with an additional 55 in the certfication process.
WHY IT MATTERS
The DiGA Fast-Track was created by the 2019 Digital Healthcare Act and legislative changes mean that apps can now be prescribed by doctors and costs will be reimbursed through German health insurance. However, there are legal and regulatory hurdles to overcome before the apps can be listed and Data Protection Standards within German healthcare are strict.
02:10 AM
The year 2020 has undoubtedly been an eventful year for the health IT industry, from the explosion of COVID-19 preventative technology, the AI tools used for the global vaccine roll-out, and the introduction of the virtual HIMSS EMRAM asessments, this year was anything but ordinary. To commemorate this challenging but highly newsworthy year, we ve picked out our most popular
Healthcare IT News stories of 2020.
1.
Our UAE-based health IT stories were very popular with our readers this year, and this story was no exception, raking up the highest ever number of views of an article on our international media platforms. Following a successful debut, Abu Dhabi introduced additional COVID-19 rapid screening centres at entry points to the UAE capital. Residents of the Emirates were unable to travel into Abu Dhabi without providing a negative COVID-19 test before departure. To facilitate the process, the UAE government introduced a rapid screening centre at a checkpoint be