In a highly competitive and rapidly changing healthcare landscape, providers are under pressure to deliver high-value care. To achieve better outcomes at lower cost, significant progress can be made by optimizing clinical operations. The Martini-Klinik within the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Germany has attained success at optimizing clinical operations through disciplined and strategic application of operational principles.
This paper examines the factors that are the foundation of the Martini-Klinik’s success in being the global leader in prostate surgery and evaluates how these can be applied by other care providers.
This paper is co-authored with the Martini-Klinik’s Professor Hartwig Huland, MD, and is part of the Siemens Healthineers Insights Series. It provides ideas and solutions on transforming care delivery.
How can specialization optimize clinical care?
Key learnings from the Martini-Klinik
Professor Hartwig Huland, MD, founder of the Martini-Klinik, made the decision to focus narrowly on one field: prostate surgery. To develop strategies and protocols that optimize effectiveness, he embraced three operational principles:
- Specialization combined with high volumes
- A rigorous commitment to follow-up and evaluate outcomes
- Strong patient orientation
The successful application of these three principles has allowed the Martini-Klinik to enter into the ‘Virtuous Cycle’, a self-sustaining sequence of factors that enable lasting success, growth, stability, and ongoing improvement.
About Professor Hartwig Huland
Professor Hartwig Huland, MD, is widely recognized as a leading authority on prostate surgery. He received his medical training at a number of leading universities, including Stanford University, and received his medical degree from the University of Hamburg in 1968. He moved to the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf in 1991, where until 2008 he served as full professor and director of the Department of Urology and its Polyclinic. From 1997 to 1998, Professor Huland served as president of the German Society of Urology (DGU). He co-founded the Martini-Klinik with Professor Graefen in 2005 and was appointed physician-in-chief. Under his leadership, the Martini-Klinik has become the world’s leading center for prostate surgery, performing more surgical procedures than any other hospital or clinic worldwide, and consistently achieving superior outcomes.
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