The European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) launched in February 2010 a Telemedicine Toolkit that includes a Position Paper, a Glossary of Terms and a Database of Referenced Studies for anyone interested in acquiring further knowledge and in contributing to the evolving field of telemedicine.

Telemedicine is an emerging field in healthcare with aspects not yet widely known. There is however a general consensus that telemedicine solutions present great potential to respond to the challenges faced by today's healthcare systems, such as:

• Ageing population;
• Rise of chronic diseases;
• Shortage of healthcare professionals;
• Rising healthcare costs.

In order to respond to these challenges, the COCIR members have invested heavily in Research & Development (R&D) to build up cost-efficient, innovative and patient-centred solutions. These solutions can improve the quality of patient's lives, empower the patient to manage its health, reduce hospitalisations and prevent exacerbations.

To support its members, COCIR has created a dedicated Focus Group on telemedicine, the role of which is to:

• Represent the voice of the industry on telemedicine: Since the creation of the COCIR Focus Group on Telemedicine, additional healthcare IT companies have joined the group, thereby increasing COCIR's position in the field. As a result of this initiative, a Position Paper outlining the industry's visions for telemedicine has been developed by the member companies.
• Define and promote a common terminology: Telemedicine is a field with various interpretations, in particular with regards to its terminology. In order to avoid any possible confusion and lack of coherence, COCIR has created a Glossary of Terms that proposes clear definitions for the terms used in telemedicine. COCIR encourages all stakeholders to use these definitions to ensure a better understanding among all actors involved in the sector.
• Raise awareness about telemedicine and its potential: On the one hand, there is a lack of confidence on behalf of patients, healthcare professionals and health insurance organisations with regards to the safety and cost-efficiency of telemedicine solutions. However, on the other hand, there is an increasing number of sound scientific studies showing the effectiveness of telemedicine solutions for chronic patients. In this regard, the Database of Referenced Studies demonstrating the effectiveness of telemedicine includes such studies in the field of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure and diabetes. This database is a non-exhaustive document that will be enriched regularly with new studies.

Further information:

• Original news article - European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR)
• COCIR Position Paper
• COCIR Glossary of Terms
• COCIR Database of Referenced Studies