Europe's hospitals are under enormous financial pressure, but according to Stefan Schaller, Head of Central Western Europe at Siemens Healthineers, that pressure also creates an opportunity for prevention and integrated care pathways.
Stefan Schaller, Head of Central Western Europe at Siemens Healthineers, at the 107th German Radiology Congress in Leipzig.Claudia Tschabuschnig
One example: coronary CT with a digital cockpit for precise analysis of vascular occlusions. Cardiologists can see in advance exactly where an intervention is needed -- and where it is not. This saves diagnostic procedures in the cardiac catheterization lab and keeps capacity available for the interventions that genuinely need to happen. But that only works if the imaging is precise enough -- and if hospitals have the infrastructure to support it.
Germany's hospital landscape is facing structural transformation. The planned hospital reform (Krankenhausreform) includes consolidation, with transformation funds (Transformationsgelder) available to support the transition. Siemens Healthineers offers consulting teams to help hospitals with applications and funding. But the real problem, according to Schaller, is different: the federal states (Bundesländer) are not meeting their financing obligations for equipment. Hospitals have to finance everything from operating budgets, and simply do not have the money.
At the same time, further burdens loom. The planned GOÄ reform (Gebührenordnung für Ärzte, the physician fee schedule for private patients) could devalue private practices by around 30 percent, and the healthcare financing stabilization law (GKV-Finanzstabilisierungsgesetz) proposes cutting technical components of service provision by about 10%. Siemens said it's engaging with ministries and associations to mitigate these cuts -- not just for commercial reasons, but because they would worsen patient care and remove innovation capacity from the system.
Despite the crisis, the vendor is investing 650 million euros in new factories in Germany -- from detector crystals to final assembly, all manufactured in Forchheim. "If you look at German industry -- automotive, all of them are in crisis -- and we are making this kind of major investment," Schaller said. The company is proud to be deeply rooted in Germany. It is not just an economic decision, but a signal: that Germany has a future as a medical technology hub if companies are willing to invest for the long term.
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