German Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach visits Helios Hospital Erfurt

• Best practice for pooling medical expertise
• Germany-wide centers of excellence for complex treatments
• Clear focus on the quality of medical outcomes and patient satisfaction

The hospital system of the future already exists today: On Tuesday, the German Federal Minister of Health Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach and the Parliamentary State Secretary for East Germany and Minister of State Carsten Schneider visited the Helios Hospital Erfurt. Together with three other Helios hospitals, it forms part of the Central Thuringia Helios cluster. Accompanied by Robert Möller, who is the CEO of Helios and a Fresenius Management Board member, the health minister learned about the networking between Helios hospitals and the specialization based on the cluster principle. The minister also took the opportunity to speak directly with employees.

Helios sets focus areas for its clusters comprising several closely linked hospitals that it has set up all across Germany. These clusters enable the provision of a very broad range of medical services, which in turn leads to a measurably higher quality of treatment for patients.

Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach, German Federal Minister of Health: “All those who work together in a hospital network, specialize, and allocate tasks sensibly like the Helios Hospital Erfurt and its partner hospitals do stand to benefit from the hospital reform. Not everyone has to do everything. But anyone who carries out complex procedures must be qualified to do so. Cutting-edge medicine must pay off. Nationwide coverage must continue to be guaranteed. We will ensure just this with the reform.”

Robert Möller, member of the Fresenius Management Board and CEO of Helios: “As a healthcare provider and part of the globally active Fresenius healthcare group, Helios welcomes many of the approaches foreseen in the hospital reform, especially the efforts to establish focus areas and centers of excellence. Like the one here at Helios in Thuringia. One thing is clear though: Our focus here in Germany must be on the quality of medical outcomes and patient satisfaction. To achieve this, we must concentrate treatment in the places with the most expertise and think beyond sector boundaries. At Helios, we have consistently pursued this approach for a long time now. Always with the aim of achieving the best possible medical quality, which is also measurable. The Central Thuringia cluster of Helios hospitals is a very good example of how we are putting this into practice in many regions in Germany.”

Medical care within the cluster

As a maximum care provider, the Helios Hospital Erfurt is the largest hospital in the region. It forms the core of the Central Thuringia Helios cluster. Together with three other Helios hospitals in the surrounding area, namely the specialist orthopedic clinic in Bleicherode, the hospital for specialized care in Gotha, and the hospital for basic and standard care in Blankenhain, the cluster is an example of specialization and networking in the hospital sector. Around 300,000 people are treated within the cluster every year. The specialized medical care is provided by over 3,500 employees. Helios already has 25 strong clusters. Within these, complex treatments are pooled at centers of excellence and cross-site medical departments are formed.

Insights into daily practice

The practical work at the hospitals in the Central Thuringia Helios cluster was presented to the delegation and the close networking between sites and the specialization through the establishment of centers for different specialist areas and disciplines were also demonstrated. During his tour, the health minister experienced telemedical cooperation in a live case discussion and training for complex emergencies and in the use of state-of-the-art robotics for knee surgery in the simulation and emergency academy. The medical training program offered in Erfurt was also presented. Helios Hospital Erfurt has been a university campus of the Health and Medical University since 2022 and plays a key role in the medical training offered in Erfurt. The health minister also expressed his particular appreciation for the staff from various disciplines during personal discussions.