München Klinik gains latest imaging innovations, increases uptime, lowers cost

The public hospital München Klinik in Germany was serving over 135,000 people with outdated equipment and technology, which caused inefficiencies across care pathways and care sites. At a tipping point, the hospital decided to undergo a major modernization across five locations. As one of the largest projects in the German healthcare system, München Klinik’s challenge was to modernize in a sustainable way and set itself up for future success while meeting today’s urgent demands.

An eight-year Managed Technology Services partnership between München Klinik and Philips focused on enhancing the quality and efficiency of treatment processes and associated medical technology with an emphasis on imaging technology. The partnership was structured to enhance treatment quality, enable faster diagnosis, yield fewer follow-up examinations and reduce wait times.

'We want to offer patients consistently outstanding treatment quality and are convinced that long-term, sustainable cooperation is the key.'' says Dr. Axel Fischer, Chairman of the Management Board of the München Klinik.

Specific partnership deliverabled included:

München Klinik and Philips worked together to complete a precise analysis of the current situation at all locations and developed a needs-based exchange concept. A multi-faceted standardization project was initiated to fulfill the initial needs that were identified, including standardizing the equipment and implementing a single operating philosophy around cross-departmental use of systems, probes and accessories. About 60 new devices were installed across a wide variety of departments in the first year of the partnership, and ultrasonic systems were replaced with more powerful devices designed to improve both the diagnostics for patients and the working conditions for employees.

Now, workflow innovations, intuitive usability and ergonomic design support the staff’s daily routines. The staff has more time for patients and provides feedback to Philips directly, which allows them to further adapt the next generation of devices to their specific needs.

“We radiologists are always looking for the most effective way to reach our goal, i.e. to make a reliable diagnosis and thus the best therapy decision,” says Dr. Fischer. “I am very pleased that we are now in direct contact with the manufacturer and find solutions together to shorten the imaging examination for the patients and simplify the work steps.”

The Managed Technology partnership between München Klinik and Philips, while only two years into the planned agreement, has already achieved results, including cost savings and increased system uptime.

In addition, the partnership helped the hospital increase its attractiveness to patients, doctors and nurses and, most importantly, enhance the quality of care for patients.