On February 22, the German Harkness Fellowship Selection Committee selected Dr. Cornelia Henschke to be the next German Harkness Fellow. Dr. Cornelia Henschke is deputy head of the Berlin Centre for Health Economics Research (Berlin HECOR) at the Technische Universität, Berlin and responsible for the Junior Research Group MeDIoRI (Medical Devices: Incentives and Impact of Regulatory Instruments). Henschke’s focus of her studies lies on “Financing (new) technologies: Balancing Access, safety and quality and expenditures in health care systems”. The overarching goal of her research project is to explore instruments or measures according to their effects on access, coverage quality and safety that focus on the regulation of technologies, especially new technologies

Prof. Dr. Alexander Schachtrupp Managing Director, B. Braun Stiftung, expects new findings for the German health care system: “The U.S. seems to be more advanced in the field of benefit appraisal, e. g. market access and financing of new technologies. So the studies of Dr. Cornelia Henschke fit perfectly in the German discussion on benefit appraisal and the changes of the European Medical Device Regulation (MDR).” Medical technologies including methods, medical devices and pharmaceuticals are the cornerstone of diagnosis and treatment in health care. As especially new medical technologies are often more expensive than existing alternatives, technologies are considered a decisive factor for rising health expenditures. It often takes years to evaluate their effectiveness or Seite 2/3 | New Harkness Fellow investigates how to finance new technologies performance in routine practice. Especially in the context of new technologies, policy makers and insurers have to balance the potential benefits of ensuring access to new medical technologies against safety and cost-effectiveness issues.

During the traditional dinner where representatives of B. Braun-Stiftung und Commonwealth Fund as well as many Harkness Fellowship alumni welcomed Henschke to the Harkness Fellowship family, David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund, expressed careful optimism that the problems with the U.S. health care system will be solved: “The system bends towards coverage.”

The Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy and Practice is aimed at developing and encouraging mid-career Health care researchers and practitioners in Australia, Canada, France, Germany the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom, who are committed to advancing policy and practice in the Fund’s areas of interest. Since 2008, the B. Braun-Foundation has financed one German scientist to participate in the Harkness Fellowship Program. For the B. Braun-Stiftung it is important that the results of the Harkness fellow’s research will have an impact on the German health care system.

Dr. Cornelia Henschke received her degree in business administration (MSc equivalent) in 2008, having concentrated in particular on health care, hospital and operations management. In February 2013 she finished her Ph.D. in economics, having focused on the adoption and diffusion of medical in devices in Germany. She plans to start her year of research at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina this upcoming summer. Duke is named as one of the best private colleges in the US.

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Background
The purpose of the B. Braun-Stiftung is the promotion of learning and education, of science and research and of public healthcare in the field of human medicine. Therefore the B. Braun-Stiftung supports health care researchers and practitioners who conduct projects in a field of public healthcare. The results of this project should be transferable to the German health care system.

Members of the German Harkness Fellowship Committee members are:
Christof Veit, M.D., Chair Head, Federal Institute for Quality Assurance and Transparency in Healthcare (IQTIG), Reinhard Busse, M.D., F.F.P.H., Professor and Head, Department of Health Care Management, Technische Universität Berlin, Manfred Gogol, M.D., F.G.S.A., Medical Director, Lindenbrunn Hospital, Stephanie Stock, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Institute of Health Economics and Clinical Epidemiology, The University Hospital of Cologne, Alexander Schachtrupp, M.D., Professor and Managing Director, B. Braun Stiftung and Robin Osborn, M.B.A., Vice President, Director of the Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice, and David Blumenthal, Ph.D., President, both the Commonwealth Fund.