My souvenirs about Lisbon were associated with an intense, golden sun light and impeccable blue sky. Unfortunately, my last week visit in Lisbon was accompanied by a gray weather and steady rain. This was not impeaching a group of enthusiasts to assist at the launch of the MICROSOFT RESEARCH CHAIR IN HEALTHCARE. The meeting took place in the Knowledge Pavilion - an interesting science and technology museum attracting many visitors.
The primary goal of the MICROSOFT RESEARCH CHAIR is to attract to Portugal a top level researcher currently working abroad, in order to develop and to promote emerging areas of knowledge, namely fostering the growth of research and development activities, and advanced education in fields of common interest both to MICROSOFT and to the University(ties) which will be selected as host institutions, with special focus in one of the following knowledge areas:
The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and MICROSOFT will launch a public call for the attribution of a programme-contract with one or more scientific institutions in articulation with universities, aimed at the co-funding of the MICROSOFT RESEARCH CHAIR IN HEALTHCARE. The total funding is between 600 and 900.000 Euros for a period of 5 years.
The opening ceremony was attended by Prof. José Mariano Gago - Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Dr Manuel Pizarro, Secretary of State from Ministry of Health, Prof João Sentieiro - president of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and Mr Nuno Duarte, Director General of Microsoft Portugal. Some pictures are included.
This initiative is very interesting and unique in Europe. The aim is to support the implementation efforts in the area of Electronic Health Records and foster interoperability between system installed across the country. Moreover, the research performed should offer guidelines and solutions to semantic interoperability and practical ways to surface clinical knowledge to all health workers (and perhaps citizens) without the need for heavy EMR applications.
Personally, I appreciated very much the wise approach of the Portuguese government regarding eHealth implementation. For example, during several weeks, a Committee of well recognized national experts is performing a large consultation of different stakeholders. Their interest is less turned towards IT solutions but more towards overall vision, success factors and business elements. Of course standards and IT architecture is important but the most important appear to be the practical way to implement a system able to contain costs while improving the quality of healthcare delivered to individuals by health professionals and paid by the government.