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 help identify where an intervention may be needed – and where it may 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 support to help hospitals navigate 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 significant cuts to the technical components of service provision. 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 across several locations in Germany -- including new factory capacity in Forchheim, where production spans everything from detector crystals to final assembly. "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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