beMedTech

📢 Ensuring access to medical devices in the EU: your voice matters – join tomorrow's webinar! At the request of the European Commission, a consultation is underway to monitor and analyse the availability of medical devices (MDs and IVDs) under the #MDR and #IVDR. 🔎 The goal is to identify potential obstacles to the availability and conformity assessments of medical devices and propose actionable solutions. Notified bodies, healthcare professionals, and patients have already been consulted. Now it’s time for companies to have their say. You can participate until 28 February 2025. Any specific company information you share will remain confidential. ⭐ Three important links to bookmark: 1. Webinar (16 January, 11:-00-12:00 CET) with background on the consultation: https://shorturl.at/IVjZd 2. Survey (open until 28 February): https://shorturl.at/8MC66 3. More information on the FAGG/AFMPS website: https://shorturl.at/avfnL 🙏 Thank you to FAGG - Federaal Agentschap voor Geneesmiddelen en Gezondheidsproducten for highlighting this critical initiative on your channels! #medtechmatters #medicaldevices #invitrodiagnostics

🤩 Grateful, proud, (extra) motivated. These are just some of the feelings we have when looking back at our past year on LinkedIn. We’d like to share four key stats from 2024 with you. 📈 Our number of page followers grew from 5,039 to 7,715 (+53.1%) ✍ We published 227 posts (including some reposts) 👀 With those posts, we reached a total of over 662,000 views 💗 Last but definitely not least: you engaged with our posts over 12,800 times in 2024! Many of these were quality interactions – tagging people in posts relevant to them, asking us for more details, referring to additional information, making connections with other followers of our page, and so on. A massive thanks for that. Here's to even more in 2025! P.S. Curious about our top 5 most-viewed posts of 2024? We’ve compiled them for you here: https://shorturl.at/sBWJ1

This Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, we're highlighting the new #cervicalcancer screening guidelines introduced in Belgium. Here’s what you need to know: 💡 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄? Since 1 January this year, the Belgian government has been reimbursing the molecular #HPV test for cervical cancer screening for women aged 30 to 64. 💡 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗣𝗩 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁? Compared to the traditional cytological test, which identifies abnormal cells, the HPV test detects the #humanpapillomavirus responsible for cervical cancer. This enables the detection of cervical cancer at an earlier stage. 💡 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝟯𝟬-𝟲𝟰? Screening now involves an HPV test every 5 years, replacing the cytological test every 3 years. If HPV is detected, a follow-up cytological test will check for abnormal cells. 💡 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝟮𝟱-𝟮𝟵? They will continue with a cytological test every 3 years to check for abnormal cells. If abnormalities are found, an HPV test will follow. 💡 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽𝘀? Immediate HPV testing is not recommended for women aged 25 to 29 years, as outlined on the website of Centrum voor Kankeropsporing. Dr. Patrick Martens explains: "The likelihood of detecting HPV in women aged 25-29 is high, but in most cases, the infection resolves spontaneously without causing issues. Testing too early could lead to unnecessary treatment or anxiety. Only a persistent HPV infection over many years increases the risk of cervical cancer." 🎗 Let’s use this month to raise awareness and empower women with the knowledge they need to protect their health. #CervicalCancerAwareness #CervicalCancerAwarenessMonth #cancerscreening #diagnostics #invitrodiagnostics Cindy Simoens Sciensano Stichting Kankerregister RIZIV FOD Volksgezondheid, Veiligheid van de Voedselketen en Leefmilieu

🧭 Valuable targeted therapies are one thing, but getting those therapies to the right patients is equally important. A tool that can help with this? Companion diagnostics, or CDx – diagnostic tests that help predict how well a targeted therapy will work for patient X or Y. During the past legislative term, Belgium developed a policy to reimburse such tests more quickly, so they became available to patients at the same time as the accompanying targeted therapy. The focus was on molecular CDx – tests that predict treatment effectiveness using molecular markers. ❓ Why was this? Anouk Waeytens explains it in detail in this interview. The expert in personalised medicine has been an advisor to the (now outgoing) Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke since the end of 2020. "A few years ago, there were quite a few molecular markers that either took a long time to be reimbursed or weren’t getting reimbursed at all. In other words, the need to align the reimbursement of molecular CDx with targeted therapies was significant at the time," says Waeytens. "But of course, there are other markers too. For instance, immunohistochemical ones and those detected through different medical technologies, such as imaging. We’ll also need to align reimbursement for these diagnostic markers and treatments in the near future." Want to discover more about this topic? You can read the full interview with Anouk Waeytens on our website: 👉 in Dutch: https://shorturl.at/iwp87 👉 in French: https://shorturl.at/2qZwm #medtechmatters #diagnostics #companiondiagnostics #reimbursement #personalisedmedicine

💡 Did you know that continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is currently used by only 3% of people with type 2 #diabetes? In type 1 diabetes, the technology is widely adopted (81% of patients), but this isn’t the case for type 2 diabetes. And there are reasons for this, as Dr. Laurent Crenier explained during the event "Rethinking Diabetes Care" last year, which we co-hosted with E-Health Venture. Type 2 diabetes is a highly heterogeneous condition, with some patients benefiting more from CGM than others, depending on their endotype. However, these endotypes are not clearly defined. Yet. That's precisely where Dr. Crenier sees an important role for CGM: by collecting blood glucose data, linking it to clinical treatment outcomes, and interpreting it with the help of AI, we can identify useful subgroups within type 2 diabetes and determine more precisely which technologies and treatments are effective for each type of patient. A clearer identification is crucial both for patients and the healthcare system: 👉 patients can receive the best possible care 👉 the healthcare system can allocate the budget more effectively. Needless to say, the budgetary impact is significant, with hundreds of thousands of Belgians living with type 2 diabetes. Medical technology thus becomes an enabler of #precisionmedicine. Want to learn more about the event "Rethinking Diabetes Care"? Read the  detailed report on our website: 👉 in Dutch: https://shorturl.at/bLogT 👉 in French: https://shorturl.at/c8eor #diabetescare #chroniccare #medtechmatters #CGM #continuousglucosemonitoring

🤔 5, 4, 3, 2 … 1! Which is your favourite? Let us know in the comments – we’d love to hear your opinion. We’ve compiled our five best-performing LinkedIn posts of 2024, based on reach. (If you'd like to revisit them in detail, scroll to the bottom of this post for the links.) Did any of these 5 top posts resonate with you in particular? Or perhaps another 2024 story or message stood out to you? Feel free to discuss it in the comments. Meanwhile, stay tuned to our page for more #medtechmatters in 2025. ------- Our top 5 posts of 2024: 5️⃣ Prof. Guy HANS and UZA leverage the power of medtech to better involve patients in managing their health, using BeWell Innovations' self-parameterisation kiosk (January 2024). 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵: https://shorturl.at/PjLWQ 4️⃣ Live post from the 2024 edition of Medische Wereld, featuring a lively political debate on the future of healthcare in Belgium (April 2024). 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵: https://shorturl.at/7RMVU 3️⃣ Our managing director, Sabrina Suetens, and our board members present the beMedTech memorandum in a creative way (March 2024). 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵: https://shorturl.at/5dzHU 2️⃣ Starting this year, molecular #HPV tests will be reimbursed for cervical cancer screening for women aged 30 to 64 – thanks to Stephanie Van Houtven's advocacy. Stephanie sadly passed away from #cervicalcancer in summer 2023 (December 2024). 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵: https://shorturl.at/fr0fa 1️⃣ Belgian medtech company icometrix breaks through in America with AI software for brain scan analysis. Progress in Belgium remains slower – for now? (August and September 2024). 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 (August): https://shorturl.at/Z3Nig 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 (November): https://shorturl.at/evYt5

🤔 What do you think? How can we build bridges among healthcare stakeholders in 2025? What strategies will better connect patients, healthcare providers and organisations, policymakers, and companies to foster genuine co-creation? Because one thing is certain: as healthcare becomes increasingly complex, with rapid innovation and constrained budgets, its future depends on collaboration. At the PwC Annual Executive Healthcare Summit in late summer 2024, our managing director, Sabrina Suetens, invited every stakeholder to look in the mirror, emphasising that true co-creation starts with the attitude of each and every one of us. Our resolution for 2025? To live up even more to our motto "Stronger Together" by taking the time to engage with every stakeholder, truly understanding their perspectives, and shaping common healthcare goals we can all work towards. 👇 Please feel free to share your ideas and/or resolution in the comments! 👇 #medtechmatters #healthcarepolicy #healthcareinnovation #strongertogether PwC Belgium Michele Paque Matthias Reyntjens Giovanni Briganti, M.D., Ph.D. Hugues Malonne Margot Cloet Stefan Gijssels Frederic Clais Ann Van Gysel Caroline Ven Kathleen Depoorter

🎄✨ Our entire team — including our Christmas tree decoration 😉 — wishes all stakeholders in the Belgian healthcare sector a wonderful holiday season.   May you all find some well-deserved rest in the coming days, so we can achieve even more together in 2025.   Reculer pour mieux sauter ! 💪

Every 17 minutes, someone in Flanders is diagnosed with #diabetes. No need to further explain why diabetes poses a significant challenge to our healthcare system... i-mens, Z-plus, AZ Maria Middelares, and several other stakeholders rose to that challenge and joined forces to develop a hybrid care pathway for people with type 2 diabetes. Because #hybridcare is essential if we are to meet the growing demand for diabetes care with the inherently limited people and resources available. The ongoing follow-up study on the hybrid care pathway is of great importance — not only for the future of #diabetescare in Belgium but also for managing many other chronic conditions that challenge our healthcare system. Thank you, Comarch Benelux, for the nice recap of our event "Rethinking Diabetes Care" last October! 👀 Looking for a written summary of the event? Visit our website: - Dutch: https://lnkd.in/egwKZb2g - French: https://lnkd.in/eXx-9j7H #chroniccare #medtechmatters #healthinnovation Stef Schots Dorien Vandormael Steven Vandeput, PhD. E-Health Venture Diabetes Liga

Say it with a book! 📘 During our final board meeting of the year, we surprised the members of our board of directors with the book "Caring for Healthcare: Why Investing in Health Pays Off?" by Professor of Health Economics Dominique Vandijck. In the book, Prof. Vandijck emphasises that few sectors offer a cost-benefit ratio as favourable as healthcare—provided investments are made wisely. Medical technologies can play a crucial role in improving this cost-effectiveness, enabling us to meet the growing demand for care with the same capacity while maintaining or even enhancing quality standards. 👀 We look forward to delving into this insightful read over the holiday season and returning in 2025, ready to continue our role as a committed stakeholder for a sustainable Belgian healthcare system! Thank you, Prof. Vandijck, and here’s to an impactful 2025! #medtechmatters #healtheconomy #healtheconomics #healthcarepolicy #prevention