In 2016, Philips launched the innovative Minicare I-20 handheld point-of-care system with cardiac troponin-l (cTnI) assay for patients with suspected Myocardial Infarction (heart attack). The system accurately measures cTnI values, near the patient in acute care settings, delivering lab comparable results within 10 minutes. Now we have reached another important milestone with the launch of next generation Minicare in-vitro diagnostics systems to facilitate timely and accurate triage decisions at the point-of-care. This will not only have a positive impact on workflow efficiency but also on quality of care to the patient, giving immediate laboratory-comparable results to support more patient-centred approaches to health care delivery.

Among the key innovations being showcased at EuroMedLab 2017, is the expansion of the Minicare I-20 cardiac assay panel to include Minicare BNP*, an aid in the diagnosis of heart failure (HF) in urgent and non-urgent care settings. Testing the concentrations of natriuretic peptide BNP, which are elevated in those with HF, is recommended in international guidelines to rule out non-acute HF patients.

In addition to Minicare BNP, I am delighted to announce the launch of two brand new Minicare family members:

• Minicare H-300*, point-of-care hemostasis system to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of coagulation abnormalities: In critical care settings, such as a heavy blood trauma or massive surgery, it can be crucial for the physician to know the accurate coagulation status of a patient. Philips will distribute a novel, point-of-care hemostasis system that can deliver real-time insights in the whole blood hemostasis status of the patient. Minicare H-300 can support and enhance the clinical decision making of the care team especially in trauma and transfusion situations.

• Minicare C-300*, clinical chemistry system for an extensive range of chemistry parameters: Clinical chemistry blood tests are essential in hospital and pre-hospital settings and usually require sending blood samples to a central or external laboratory – which can be a timely process. Reflecting on this situation, Philips introduces a point-of-care clinical chemistry system as a small desktop unit allowing for rapid and efficient near-patient testing and diagnosis

The significant expansion of our Minicare portfolio marks a major milestone for us. We have the ambition to revolutionize the delivery of care with our Minicare platform and these exciting innovations will move diagnostics from the laboratory to where the patient is. Minicare systems realize our goal of enabling near-patient testing across the continuum of care, empowering healthcare professionals to make rapid, on-the-spot medical decisions, and ultimately improving workflow efficiency and patient outcomes.