The Institute for Management, Economics and Healthcare at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) organized a health economics symposium and networking event on 8 November 2024. (HWG LU) organized a health economics symposium and networking event on 8 November 2024 on the topic of "Future Hospital - Hospital of the Future". The organizers were delighted with the successful conference and the many practical insights into the future of hospitals.
On November 8, 2024, the Health Economics Talks on the topic of "Future Hospital - Hospital of the Future" took place at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society. As has been the case many times since the start of the conference series in 2003, this year's event once again provided a platform for a fruitful exchange between academia and practice. From the participants' point of view, it was particularly valuable to learn about implementation-oriented concepts for strategically relevant fields of action in addition to well-founded health policy analyses.
After the welcome address by University President Prof. Dr. Piller, in which he emphasized the importance of health economics for the profile of the university, Nicole Steingaß, State Secretary in the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Science and Health, gave a welcoming address. She outlined the major challenges facing hospitals, discussed the status of the Hospital Care Improvement Act and explained the state's position. It became clear what a decisive role the state government has to play in the design and implementation of the law.
Practical insights for healthcare experts
Over 100 managers and specialists from hospitals, health insurance companies, the private practice sector, the life science industry and other parts of the healthcare industry benefited from a wide range of forward-looking topics. Dirk Berner, Managing Director of Kinderzentrum Maulbronn gGmbH, summarized: "The content was politically and practically highly topical and scientifically well-founded. All the speakers were excellent. A really worthwhile event!"
The following topics were covered in detail:
- Strategic orientation: Roland Engehausen, Managing Director of Bayerische Krankenhausgesellschaft e.V., provided valuable guidance on the strategic positioning of hospitals in his introductory lecture. In conclusion, he called on politicians and self-administration to "make the entrepreneurial framework for hospitals feasible". At the same time, he emphasized the responsibility of hospitals to "use this framework in a future-oriented manner".
- Process optimization: PD Dr. Matthias Janda, Head of Medical Process Management at University Medicine Halle, made it clear that clinical process management plays a decisive role in the economic, patient-oriented and employee-oriented success of hospitals. Using the example of the establishment of interdisciplinary surgical patient management, he went through the individual steps and emphasized in particular the importance of standards, cross-departmental thinking, KPI-based management, agile communication and a mindset that sees digitalization & AI as an opportunity.
- Digital transformation: Dr. Anke Diehl, Chief Transformation Officer at Essen University Hospital, outlined the building blocks of the smart hospital concept based on the core statements of Essen University Hospital's smart hospital strategy, which focuses on cultural change, innovation and empathetic future medicine. The cooperation with an advisory board on digitalization and AI, which is made up of representatives from the care area, is groundbreaking. The advisory board is intended to support patient-benefit-oriented use and bias avoidance. She emphasized: "The decisive factor for success is not only the technology, but above all the development of a culture of innovation."
- New Work: Prof. Dr. Jutta Rump, Director of the Institute for Employment and Employability IBE at the HWG LU, impressively demonstrated in her presentation that, against the backdrop of the existing and increasing labor shortage, companies must focus their efforts on increasing labor potential on the one hand and on increasing productivity on the other. She focused on three dimensions of New Work: identification and motivation, skills and qualifications, and health and well-being. She gave many suggestions on how to make progress in these dimensions and made it clear how good the starting position of companies in the healthcare sector is, as the work in this industry is meaningful in itself and also offers a high degree of security. As the discussion showed, there is still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to communicating the positive aspects of working in the healthcare sector.
- Securing healthcare in rural areas: Dr. Ingo Hüttner, CEO of Alb Fils Klinikum, shared valuable experience from a transformation project to secure healthcare in rural areas. Specifically, he presented the decentralized Helfenstein health center, which is part of the Alb Fils Klinikum. The audience was presented with a concept of how intersectoral healthcare can be created that integrates comprehensive outpatient services, emergency care, short-term care and other services. Part of the health center is also a ward for short-term inpatient general medical care, which has been set up as a pilot project in cooperation with the AOK Baden-Württemberg. Dr. Hüttner emphasized how important the great commitment of the supporting municipality is for the success of the concept.
Networking and exchange
The conference offered numerous opportunities for exchanging experiences and networking. During the panel discussion and in the breaks, participants were able to talk to each other and to the speakers. The instructive and lively panel discussion on the topic of "The future of the hospital" was convincingly moderated by Elke Lehnert from the "Organizational Development" department of the Ludwigshafen Clinic management.
The conference chairs, Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler and Prof. Dr. Elke Raum, see the concept of the Health Economics Talks confirmed: "Our mission is to provide professional impetus for sustainable, efficient healthcare and to offer an active network for cooperation partners in health economics at Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences and beyond. We attach particular importance to involving students - the specialists and managers of the future. It was therefore particularly important that, in addition to health economics students, students from the fields of nursing and midwifery also took part and contributed to the discussion."
The next Health Economics Talks are planned for November 2025.
Further information can be found at: www.hwg-lu.de/studium/bachelor/gip/gesundheitsoekonomische-gespraeche
Specialist contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Institute for Management, Economics and Health Care (IMÖVG)
Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler/ Prof. Dr. Elke Raum
Tel. 0621 5203 - 135 or -126
Email: eveline.haeusler@hwg-lu.de / elke.raum@hwg-lu.de
