The competition "Health regions of the future" was launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2008. This is designed to attract innovative concepts that intermesh all protagonists from the health sector in an exemplary manner. In May 2010, the BMBF finally chose the proposal "Scope for health" from the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region (MRN) as one of the five winners of the competition.
- BMBF competition "Health regions of the future 2010"; (left) Prof. Reinhard Busse, jury chairman of the BMBF competition; (3rd from left) Dr. Georg Schütte, Assistant Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with representatives from the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region
The objective of the MRN proposal "Scope for health" is to establish structures and processes that enable the cross-sector care of chronically ill people. Taking the premise "focusing on the patient", the intention is to continue developing technologies and adapt treatment procedures that take into account the complicated care required by chronically sick people on the one hand, and the demands for efficiency and quality on the other.
The focus of this commitment are the local inhabitants, as health can only be improved (with our citizens, for our citizens) – regardless of the social class, migration background and professional situation of the individual on the one hand, and economic strength or geographical location on the other.
These plans are based on establishing a regional network of health-related institutions and collating patient care data to create a personal electronic patient's file (PEPA). Building on this, it is hoped to implement and evaluate innovative products and processes that have been developed in the MRN in close co-operation between industry and science.
As well as the patients themselves, the field of research benefits equally from the plan as a whole. Today, the MRN is one of Germany's leading locations for the life sciences, a position that will be consolidated even further with this project. The company MRN Raum für Gesundheit GmbH was founded last year for realising the plans jointly developed by more than 20 regional partners and presented as the proposal "Scope for health".