- RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt becomes international training center and center of reference for Siemens Healthineers customers in cardiovascular care
- RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt supports enhanced integrated treatment for patients with cardiovascular diseases and development of an innovative regional remuneration model
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG and Siemens Healthineers have signed a partnership agreement under which RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt acquires the status of Siemens Healthineers European Center of Reference for Cardiovascular Medicine. This gives both national and international customers of Siemens Healthineers the opportunity to learn from the medical experts in Bad Neustadt how state-of-the-art imaging systems and solutions can be used more efficiently in diagnostics, therapy, and aftercare for patients with cardiovascular diseases.
The certificate will be awarded during the internal event “Networking and interaction between cardiology, heart surgery, radiology, and rehabilitation” at the RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt on September 24.
Multi-sector collaboration for the patient’s benefit
Being named as an international Center of Reference for cardiovascular medicine is just one acknowledgment of the hospital’s approach to integrating treatment for heart-failure patients across medical specializations. In May 2020, the project “Trans-sectoral treatment according to requirements of patients with cardiac insufficiency and development of an alternative remuneration model” (“sekTOR-HF”), initiated by RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, also received a project grant for a total of 42 months from the Innovations Committee in the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA).
sekTOR-HF is a collaborative project between medical and scientific partners in the focal regions of Rhön-Grabfeld (Bavaria) and Marburg-Biedenkopf (Hesse). “We developed this project on the basis of our RHÖN Campus concept, which has enabled us to provide multi-sector healthcare for our patients for a number of years, including the use of digital networking,” explains Professor Bernd Griewing, Member of the Managing Board of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG. “With sekTOR-HF, we’re aiming to break down real-world sector boundaries and be able to think and work as part of regional networks. Otherwise the system simply won’t work in the future, especially in rural regions.” Professor Sebastian Kerber, head of Cardiology I at RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt, adds: “There are particular challenges associated with handling, diagnosing, and treating patients with heart failure. Only differential diagnosis and personalized heart-failure therapy can enable reasonably lengthy survival times and improve quality of life.”
Long-term cooperation
“Many years of highly successful cooperation link us with RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt,” observes Dr. Bernd Ohnesorge, head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Region at Siemens Healthineers. “For example, we helped the hospital to successfully integrate multimodal therapy concepts in diagnostic imaging and image-guided therapy into its clinical routine. In the future, we’ll also function as a full strategic partner to RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt to develop innovative models to bolster healthcare at a regional level. All of this confirms my view that RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt is ideally suited to be a European Center of Reference for cardiovascular medicine.”
The experts in cardiovascular care at Siemens Healthineers view themselves mainly as advisers who offer end-to-end solutions intended to help restructure healthcare in cardiovascular medicine. Their guiding principles are the expansion of precision medicine, improving the patient experience, and digitalization of the healthcare sector.
“For me, the crucial factor is that Siemens Healthineers not only manufactures devices, they also help us develop innovations perfectly suited to ensuring the best possible diagnostic and treatment workflows at our hospital,” says Dr. Lukas Lehmkuhl, head of Diagnostic Radiology at RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt. “We’re looking forward to being able to welcome internationally renowned cardiologists, radiologists, and surgeons to our facility to show them our approach and our innovations.”
“RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt provides comprehensive care for patients with cardiovascular diseases and pursues an integral treatment strategy covering the entire clinical patient pathway,” says Doris Pommi, General Manager Global Cardiovascular Care at Siemens Healthineers. “That makes this hospital especially well-suited to serve as a reference site for cardiovascular solutions. Integrated innovations and concepts that optimize patient therapy in order to achieve better treatment results are our common goals.”
History of successful collaboration between Siemens Healthineers and RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt
Clinical and scientific collaboration with RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt began as early as 2001 with the efficient integration of various methods of cardiovascular imaging in order to improve diagnostics and image-guided therapy in cardiovascular healthcare. In addition, imaging and therapeutic intervention became increasingly closely linked with the refinement of the clinical pathway concept, thanks to the integration of diagnostic imaging modalities. Radiology and interventional cardiology grew together to form a multimodal pathway concept for patient-centered imaging. “Now, with more than 1,500 MRI and about 600 to 800 CT scans each year in cardiac diagnostics alone, RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt has been one of the first users of this multimodal concept,” says Professor Thomas Deneke, head of Cardiology II at RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt.
In 2010, Siemens Healthineers and RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt worked together successfully on extensive consulting approaches to systematically assess and improve hospital operation and on clinical processes to improve results for selected diseases. At the time, RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt provided elements of best practices for the standardized management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and heart failure – for example, the CardioAngel project – and established one of the first special wards for patients in the advanced stages of heart failure.
Fields for future collaboration
Both partners want to continue to encourage the sharing of knowledge and experience in cardiology in the future. One example is a clinical training program for physicians and the medical assistance professions. In the future, they hope to work together to improve clinical workflows and continue to develop innovative treatment strategies for non-invasive and invasive cardiology. This will include defining diagnostic and treatment pathways that will make patient care even more efficient and personalized. In direct interaction with various Siemens Healthineers Business Areas, RHÖN-KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt will also support the development of future processes and technologies. Their shared insights will flow into future developments from Siemens Healthineers.
