Large professional gatherings and conferences like the upcoming World Hospital Congress present amazing opportunities to form new connections that become the foundation for friendship and collaboration. They can also be overwhelming, leaving delegates to believe that only luck can unite them with the right new contacts in a sea of unfamiliar faces. It’s easy to resort to safely conversing with only a few familiar colleagues. And it can also be tempting to think “my network is good enough” and miss a valuable opportunity. IHF has partnered with CERCA to make networking more efficient for World Hospital Congress delegates.

The authors examine the process involved in creating a strong brand and the advantages that this can bring to an organisation and in particular hospitals by enabling them to establish a significant and distinguished position against their competitors.

In manufacturing, retailing and the service sector, it is indisputable: in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, the value of brands far exceeds that of total assets as established by conventional accounting procedures. This value also exceeds the potential “power of capital” and “market share.” Brands are particularly significant in dynamic markets characterised by disruptive innovations (digital health, precision medicine), information asymmetry between customer (patient) and supplier (doctor), quality claiming demand, governmental legal interventions and serious financial limitations.

At the United Nations General Assembly, 12 multilateral agencies launched a joint plan to better support countries over the next 10 years to accelerate progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Developed over 18 months, Stronger Collaboration, Better Health: Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All outlines how a dozen multilateral health, development and humanitarian agencies will collaborate to be more efficient and provide more streamlined support to countries to deliver universal health coverage and achieve the health-related SDG targets.

IHF organized its annual Study Tour for hospital and health executives in Paris, from September 16 to 20. The 2019 Study Tour entitled “Health Innovation and Neighborhood: Towards New Health Service Models” provided participants with an in-depth insight into latest innovations in care delivery models developed in France. Participants were presented a variety of topics by senior health officials, including the Reforms of the French health systems, the public hospital system in transition, the role of private hospitals in France, and many more. Before discovering the highlights of the Tour in our upcoming newsletter, have a look at the Study Tour Program to discover our main speakers, participants and site visits.

The aim of the Luxembourg Hospital Federation (FHL) is to promote the professional interests of Luxembourg hospitals and to facilitate all types of improvements in hospitals, to the benefit of patient care.

FHL plays a key role in providing support to the hospital sector, advising them on the changes to be undertaken. FHL works alongside its member institutions in a network involving all healthcare stakeholders.

Luxembourg's health policy is articulated around the core values of universality, care of quality, fairness and solidarity. The focus will put into in favor of a healthcare system emphasized in medical progress and innovation able to adapt itself to the needs and challenges of society. Patient needs shall be appertained to the center of health policy. Therefore, all essential information will be at patients disposal in order to take part as a full actor in the healthcare system.

The health policy of the government will:

• guarantee the quality of care according to a systematic quality approach;
• ensure equal access to care;
• contribute to the prevention of diseases;
  
• provide priority to primary care;
• empower patients and providers;
• adapt the national healthcare system to the demographic evolution of the population.

FHL was founded in 1948 and since 1965, exists as a not-for-profit legal entity (asbl).

Luxembourg Hospital Federation – “Fédération des Hôpitaux Luxembourgeois (FHL)” focuses on defending the professional interests of Luxembourg hospitals and facilitating all types of progress in hospitals, especially patient welfare.