FHF Conferences

On the program of this new edition

Accredited under the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union in 2022, the SANTEXPO 2022 show will bring together health actors from across the continent to reflect on the new working areas on healthcare in Europe, at a time of global threats. The FHF wishes to propose to all health actors to meet around a common theme: « Health – the new frontier for Europe? »

Consult and download the complete program of FHF conferences and agoras

Tuesday 17 May

• From 11.00: Conference Launch

Talk by Frédéric VALLETOUX, FHF (Fédération hospitalière de France) President

• 14.00-15.30: Hospital organizations revisited by COVID

The pandemic was the trigger for accelerating changes in practices and organization in healthcare systems. At the care level, the adaptability of organizations at the height of the crisis was the source of developing trends in practices.

In a concrete manner, the crisis thus revealed the need to optimize information systems to enable improved information-sharing, to make pathways between the various healthcare actors more fluid and to develop new tools to improve care. In consequence, clinical practice is evolving: development of telemedicine, switching towards outpatient care and reducing hospitalization, development of alternative care treatments, etc.

More generally, the crisis has been a factor in a change of vision in how organizations are managed: financing models that are moving towards greater quality and relevance, and the development of tools for monitoring medical practice. These are therefore fundamental trends in the approach to managing organizations, which have found themselves accelerated by the pandemic.

• 14.30-16.00 : The green hospital in France and in Europe: Is the era of single-use over?

Purchases by public hospitals come to EUR 25 billion, according to the Court of Auditors. This represents the main lever for green transition in the healthcare sector, as recently confirmed in a report by The Shift Project: Almost two-thirds of the 46 million tonnes equivalent of CO2 emitted by the healthcare sector (8% of the national total) concern purchases (drugs, medical devices, food, energy, etc.) or their consequences (transfers, waste, etc.)

Single-use is one of the primary sources of waste in healthcare establishments, and the Covid-19 crisis has triggered a substantial increase in such practices, to the point where the professionals are disgusted.

A few seconds of use, numerous waste items and bulky waste, plastics, reusable alternatives, diverse uses (care, catering, laundry, etc.), the challenge of reprocessing medical devices – all these are subjects which could be covered by the speakers, through the lens of the experiences in Europe.

Wednesday 18 May

• 9.30-10.30: PFUE – A protective Europe: GDPR, NIS2, ethics, calls for projects, etc.
  

The digitization of our societies does not come without posing numerous questions, or without creating new problems. Europe has embarked very early, on a voluntary basis, in the extensive work which is giving rise to Regulations and Directives. Funding plans are supporting innovative projects linking healthcare and business institutions in many countries.

Who are they? What are the revisions to the Directives and Regulations? What impact will this have for my facility? How can we get involved? How do I protect myself, my staff, my patients?

These questions, and many others, will be answered by our speakers.

• 9.30-11.00: Ethics and covid
  

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised many ethical questions. Resuscitation units have been in the front line in handling the most serious cases.

It’s against this background that the conference has chosen to focus on the ethical challenges of access to care involving resuscitation, by placing the patient holistically at the heart of our reflections, in a concern to provide the patient with the best treatment. This ethical dimension is part of a collegiate approach involving the medical team and the family in the deliberations. It will equally take in considerations relating to continuity of access to care, particularly for those who are ill and immunodepressed, those with renal insufficiency, those on dialysis or with transplants, and those with non-covid conditions.

Lastly, we will also be considering how to reconcile health emergencies and the ethical challenges of digitization.

• 11.00-12.30: Towards integration of healthcare systems in Europe?

Even though social protection and the organization of healthcare systems remain under the competencies of the Member States, European healthcare systems are tending to come closer together. In effect, all are faced with common challenges – with ageing populations, chronic pathologies and rising costs.

Similar to the Populational Responsibility model backed by the FHF, many healthcare systems are moving towards integrated models, aimed at prevention and maintaining health. Populational healthcare systems. In many systems, breaking down silos and “rapprochement ville-hôpital” (bringing civic and hospital agencies closer together) are no longer slogans, but ways of working anchored in daily practice.

What do these experiences have in common, and what differentiates them? What can we learn from this?  Come and find out, in this conference dedicated to a common experience that is national, yet European.

• 11.30-12.30: The ‘Conseil scientifique’ for investment in healthcare: A partner for expertise and support for real-estate projects

The Health Ministry-led sectoral initiative on health (Ségur de la santé) proposed unprecedented, massive and ambitious investments in our healthcare system. These investments should be a major and sustainable lever to innovate, to respond to regional needs, and to reduce the inequalities in access to care. To support this dynamic, the Ministry of Health and Solidarity established a scientific committee (the Conseil scientifique, CS) to assist the work of the National Council for Statistical Information (CNIS). Working over one year, the Conseil scientifique has brought hands-on experience to supporting and evaluating investment projects, by bringing together all the professional profiles needed: doctors, carers, hospital directors, engineers, financiers.

The aim of this conference is to provide regional healthcare agencies and those running facilities the tools and keys to structure their investment projects.

• 14.00 – 15.30: Growing old in good health in European countries
  

While France has one of the highest life expectancy rates at birth in the European Union, that is not the case for indicators such as life expectancy in good health and life expectancy from 65.

There are several reasons for this disconnect, but one agreed finding is emerging: France needs to invest more in its prevention model, in order to avoid situations involving a loss of independence. This challenge is shared by all European countries, with varying forms of response.

The aim of this conference is to provide a fresh perspective on the various strategies, both medical and institutional.  The place of users and new technologies in elaborating these responses will be addressed. Thee Frail Safe programme (a project financed by the European Union) will be the subject of a presentation by Professor Athanase Benetos.

• 14.30-15.30: ATTRACTIVE MED – CONFERENCE: “Demography of healthcare professionals in Europe, and trends in employment” 

France is not the only country to experience a tight situation in terms of the demography of its healthcare professionals. Epidemiological changes, advances in research and new technologies are influencing patient needs and professional practices alike. Since 2020, the health crisis has reminded us how much we need to question ourselves regarding the most efficient organization for our care offer, in order to respond to both planned and unplanned needs.

In that spirit, the 2021 national conference organized by ONDPS (the French national observatory for the demography of healthcare professionals) was tasked with defining the 2021-2025 trajectory for training of medical professionals. This initial experience has enabled a wide range of actors to get into discussion and to share a situational analysis of offers and demands.

What’s the position elsewhere in Europe? This round table aims to show that reflection on the delegation of competences and on coordinating care has been pursued across the board, and that the first concrete realizations emanating from this can be inspiring for consolidation of healthcare systems in Europe.

• 15.45-17.15: PFUE – A visionary Europe: Data sharing, AI plans, innovation, and more

In recent years, Europe has launched various plans for the future in the digital field, and in particular in connection with healthcare services, their data and use of that data.

What are they? How has France contributed? What specific benefits in terms of improving care, new pathways, learning organizations, research, training and employment should we be anticipating? What new prospects are opening up for the coming years? How do you become an actor in this march of progress?

These questions, and many others, will be answered by our speakers

Thursday 19 May

• 10.00-11.30: The EU’s role in research, innovation and production of healthcare products”
  

The health crisis has highlighted the challenges and problems of a European policy of sovereignty and autonomy when it comes to access to healthcare products. Questions of relocating production, access to raw materials and also of a common policy, with shared funding for research and innovation, are key to this issue. Europe possesses undeniable assets for playing its part within a concerted international effort, but it must also face up to significant challenges. The principal difficulty revolves around questions of innovation and production in a situation of European deficit, given that 80% of production is located in Asia.

The challenge is therefore to highlight the work needing to be undertaken to guarantee a degree of sovereignty over stocks, via cooperations between the various EU Member States, in order to overcome the problems and resume its rightful status, its sovereignty and to become the Europe of medicines.

• 14.00-15.00: A new approach to evaluating quality in medical-social facilities and services

The publication in March 2022 of the new evaluation framework for medical-social facilities and services by the HAS (Haute Autorité de Santé, the French national health authority) marks the point of departure for the new approach to evaluating quality in medical-social facilities and services, as set out by the OTSS law of 24 July 2019.

The fruit of a co-design process involving the sectoral actors, this new framework constitutes the first common framework for the 40,000 medical-social facilities and services, and the primary tool in a fresh approach to quality evaluation to be used by professionals in the sector from now on.

Managers from the HAS’s department for social and medical-social quality and support (DIQASM) will present the tool and the approach: how has this evaluation tool been configured?What is in the new framework? What in particular changes for medical-social facilities and services?

• 10.30-11.30: SANTEXCOM / Conference No. 1 – Communications in the service of better health: A review of European best practice in communications to encourage positive and responsible health behaviours

Public health communications by the Member States is mainly undertaken at the national level. However, Europe has the means to do better than certain countries at the individual level, particularly during times of crisis. Experts from the worlds of politics, media, health, and advertising agencies will discuss this major issue for building the Europe of health.

• 11.30-12.30: SANTEXCOM / Conference No. 2 – Profession: Spin Doctors

They are the doctors in the shadows, the people who shape the image of our decision-takers, or who gild them again if that image is tarnished in a crisis situation. Our health ecosystem is permanently exposed to highly sensitive crises that have consequences for health and life. Special advisors in health crisis communications will decipher the communication strategies deployed in major health crises over recent decades in France and Europe, and will offer the essential keys for preparing for the crises to come.