Claus Duedal Pedersen

With a degree in Master of economics and with his extensive experience within health telematics, Claus Duedal Pedersen has valuable knowledge within implementation of electronic communication in the healthcare sector and the management of eHealth projects.

Over 10 years of experience in the communication technologies have made Claus Duedal Pedersen an effective and productive manager. During the 1990s (1995-2000) he worked extensively with quality development, user surveys and evaluations at the Development Section at the county of Funen. Since March 2000 Claus Duedal Pedersen has worked as a consultant at the Danish Centre for Health Telematics, were he is an effective and productive administrator of projects within eHealth technologies in both a regional and an international perspective.

On a regional level, Claus Duedal Pedersen is involved in telemedicine projects as well as in the establishment of an Internet-based Healthcare Data Network in Denmark as well as in the implementation of IT in area of social care.

Furthermore, Claus Duedal Pedersen has participated in several European projects. The first was under Tacis “Learning from you neighbour” and gave him an insight into the cultures in the acceding countries. The second PICNIC was under FP4 and third is under Interreg IIIA (ciTTis). In the latter project, Mr. Pedersen is responsible for the overall coordination. At the moment Claus Duedal Pedersen was the coordinator of the technical networks building in the Baltic eHealth project and is at the moment coordinator of two other EU projects “Better Breathing” and “R-Bay”.

Claus Duedal Pedersen is a member of the International Advisory Group for the Wales government national eHealth initiative “Informing Health Care” and Cisco Systems Think Thank for “Connecting Health”

MedCom International

MedCom is a co-operative venture between authorities, organisations and private firms linked to the Danish healthcare sector. In the 1999 financial agreement between the counties and the central government, it was decided that MedCom would be made permanent, with the following objective: "MedCom will contribute to the development, testing, dissemination and quality assurance of electronic communication and information in the healthcare sector with a view to supporting good patient progression".

MecCom currently employs 20 persons and is financed by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Danish National Board of Health, the Danish Regions, Copenhagen Hospital Corporation, the Association of Local Authorities in Denmark and the Danish Pharmaceutical Association. MedCom operates in project periods. The first MedCom project (MedCom I) was carried out in 1995-1996 and aimed at developing and testing nationwide EDI communication standards for messages between GP´s and rest of the healthcare sector. Following from that have been 4 other completed MedCom projects and MedCom is currently in its fifth project period (MedCom V 2006-2007). MedCom V consists of 6 project lines:

Local-authority projects cover and disseminate communication between all actors in the healthcare system.

1. Cooperation with sundhed.dk (the Danish Health Portal).
2. The medicines project
3. The SUP/e-journal project 
4. The consolidation/dissemination project 
5. The Webservice/macropilot project

MedCom International was founded in 1996 as The International Office in The Danish Center for Health Telematics. But with the beginning of 2007 and the onset of the structural reform in Denmark, the International Office became an entity under MedCom and the name was changed to MedCom International. Both the MedCom and MedCom International continually operate from within the house of The Danish Center for Health Telematics.

MedCom International conducts several projects and activities under a single management. All these have as their focal point the establishment of a market plus the implementation of electronic communication in health services. MedCom Projects and International Projects are the main activities co-ordinated by MedCom International.

The European projects all revolve around one or several of the following elements: Telemedicine and eHealth services, infrastructure for telemedicine, and standardisation. MedCom International is leading partner in the Baltic eHealth project part-financed by INTERREG III B and participates in @HEALTH, PERSONA, INFOBIOMED and The European eHealth Consumer Trends Survey. Furthermore, MedCom International is leading partner in Better Breathing and R-bay and partner in HEALTH OPTIMUM ID which are all currently being negotiated under the eTEN programme. The office is managed by Claus Duedal Pedersen, has 10 employees and several external consultants with backgrounds in healthcare, administration, project management and IT.