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Interview
“Hospitals must focus more on technology”
Best Practice talks to Rainer Brüderle, German Federal Minister for Economics.
In Erlangen, innovative wireless tags are turning blood products and medical equipment into smart objects. Will this sort of technology help pull German hospitals out of the economic crisis?
Rainer Brüderle: Hospitals are under increasing pressure to cut costs. To ensure and improve the quality of our healthcare, the OPAL Health project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, aims to increase efficiency in the management of medical equipment and consumables, and in the end-to-end monitoring of blood products. Thanks to innovative, mobile ICT, we can make savings and improvements in both of these areas.
Rainer Brüderle: Hospitals are under increasing pressure to cut costs. To ensure and improve the quality of our healthcare, the OPAL Health project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, aims to increase efficiency in the management of medical equipment and consumables, and in the end-to-end monitoring of blood products. Thanks to innovative, mobile ICT, we can make savings and improvements in both of these areas.
There is an investment shortfall in the region of 20 to 30 billion euros for German hospitals. What can politics do to breathe new life into this sector?
Rainer Brüderle: Hospital operators must be encouraged to reduce inefficiencies by means of new technology. Each German federal state is responsible for funding its healthcare facilities. Recent legislation enables them to switch funding of capital expenditure to a DRG-based system, which will provide hospitals with a more reliable basis for planning their budgets.
Rainer Brüderle: Hospital operators must be encouraged to reduce inefficiencies by means of new technology. Each German federal state is responsible for funding its healthcare facilities. Recent legislation enables them to switch funding of capital expenditure to a DRG-based system, which will provide hospitals with a more reliable basis for planning their budgets.
What significance does the healthcare industry hold for Germany, particularly in the context of the current economic crisis?
Rainer Brüderle: The healthcare industry makes up around ten per cent of German GDP. It is one of the most important sectors of our economy and a stabilizing element in times of crisis. It has a very complex structure, is mainly services-based and is comprised to a large extent of research and development projects. It is therefore less susceptible to fluctuations in general economic growth as other areas of the economy. Given further innovations in medical technology, changing demographics and an increased health awareness, the number of people employed in the healthcare sector could rise from 5.4 million today to 6.6 million by 2020.
Rainer Brüderle: The healthcare industry makes up around ten per cent of German GDP. It is one of the most important sectors of our economy and a stabilizing element in times of crisis. It has a very complex structure, is mainly services-based and is comprised to a large extent of research and development projects. It is therefore less susceptible to fluctuations in general economic growth as other areas of the economy. Given further innovations in medical technology, changing demographics and an increased health awareness, the number of people employed in the healthcare sector could rise from 5.4 million today to 6.6 million by 2020.
