Siemens Healthineers raises the bar on its sustainability ambitions

• Improving healthcare access in underserved communities globally 
• Strengthening healthcare workforce capabilities 
• Focusing on resource preservation through commitment to net zero 
• Promoting circularity 
• Developing diverse and engaged Healthineers 
• Unlocking impact through employee volunteering 
• Working with global and regional partners 

As a leading medical technology company, it is our responsibility to make quality healthcare accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live. This also includes the responsible and sustainable use of the resources available to us. After all, global health is directly related to the health of our planet. To live up to this commitment, Siemens Healthineers is elevating its ambitions and anchoring sustainable action even more firmly in its business processes along the entire value chain – from research and development to sales processes, and from procurement to fleet management. These ambitions are now also reflected in the addition to the company's purpose: We pioneer breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. Sustainably. Our ambition, targets and achievements for sustainability will be published as part of our Sustainability Report on November 27, 2023.

More than three billion people around the world still lack access to adequate medical care. Even in developed countries, where you live could determine how well and how long you live. This is why the company is commited to improving healthcare access for all by providing innovative solutions that make healthcare affordable and accessible for underserved communities globally: 

• The company is well set to achieve its current target of 260 million patient touchpoints in underserved, specifically low- and middle-income countries, by 2030. 
• The company will expand its patient impact in underserved communities in all countries. 
• Through healthcare workforce education and professional training, the company wants to strengthen the capacity and capabilities of health workers by providing 6 million hours of training by 2030.

Examples:

• Breaking down barriers and improving accessibility globally 
  Experts from Siemens Healthineers have won the Federal President's German Future Prize 2023. Company’s experts had been nominated for the fourth time. The winning team was honored for the development and clinical application of an innovative magnetic resonance imaging platform. More than half of the world's population does not have access to magnetic resonance imaging. This is despite the fact that this radiation-free type of medical imaging can add great value to the diagnosis of a wide range of diseases – from the early detection and treatment of cancer to neurological diseases and orthopedic complaints. However, conventional MRI devices are associated with certain hurdles. This MR platform is a cost-effective, energy-efficient, and sustainable system that greatly simplifies access to this imaging technology. Read the press release here.
  One of these innovative scanners was installed in the Angolan province of Cabinda, a region that is logistically hard to reach. This is why the local hospital is now equipped with this innovative solution that requires almost no helium and is therefore not reliant on liquid helium imports. In addition, remote scanning helps medical professionals on site to obtain expert opinions from radiologists around the world. Find more details here.
  
  
• Health equity and workforce development in underserved communities 
  SSM Health, a health care delivery system based in the U.S., has signed a 10-year strategic partnership with Siemens Healthineers focused on expanding access to high-quality care and on training the next generation of health care workers. The agreement creates the largest geographical strategic partnership for Siemens Healthineers to date. Through a shared dedication to clinical and operational excellence, the partners will further enhance quality, efficiency, and access to diagnostic and imaging services for communities across SSM Health’s four-state service area, which comprises Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. To help advance health equity, the organizations will also jointly invest in programs that expand early detection and management of chronic disease for underserved and vulnerable individuals in the communities that SSM Health serves, both urban and rural. 
  Find more details here.

Siemens Healthineers has been contributing to a regenerative and healthy environment by improving the efficiency of its production facilities and the products themselves. Its resource preservation commitment aims to minimize the environmental impact throughout the lifecycle of its solutions: 

• The company is committed to net zero by 2050: 
  • 90 percent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 
  • 28 percent reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030 and 90 percent reduction by 2050
• Together with its customers, Siemens Healthineers will focus on preserving resources by creating a decarbonized, more circular value chain and will also help healthcare providers achieve their sustainability targets.

Examples:

• First carbon-neutral radiology department 
  Siemens Healthineers and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) formed a collaboration in 2021 to make radiological imaging greener, while improving access to, and quality of, radiological imaging in northern California. This research partnership, which also includes Siemens, has demonstrated that medical centers can achieve significant carbon reduction and cost savings by either turning off or switching MRI systems to the lowest power setting when not in use. The findings, featured in a study published in Radiology in April 2023, could help the healthcare sector to reduce its carbon footprint significantly. The researchers found that turning off MRIs for for 12 hours overnight reduced energy consumption by 25-33%. Furthermore, also using power save mode while the machine was switched off – a novel energy feature in newer MRI scanners from Siemens Healthineers – decreased power usage by an additional 22-28%. 
  Read the press release here.
  
  In July 2023, the UCSF Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging received a Siemens Healthineers MRI system, delivered from Germany to San Francisco, California, using a combination of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and short-distance road transportation for an optimal mix of speed and sustainability. 
  Find more details here.
  
  
• Joint venture to acquire Block Imaging 
  In 2023, Siemens Healthineers and CommonSpirit Health, one of the largest U.S. health systems, formed a joint venture to acquire Block Imaging, a move that would greatly enhance Siemens Healthineers circular economy offerings. Through the acquisition, Block Imaging, a leading healthcare technology management/multi-vendor imaging parts provider, now sells refurbished imaging equipment parts to Siemens Healthineers, CommonSpirit Health, and providers across the USA. The acquisition enables Siemens Healthineers to expand its sustainable fleet of imaging system parts, and helps address its customers’ growing demands for more sustainable solutions by promoting the reuse of equipment while reducing waste and dependency on finite resources. The increased access to imaging equipment parts can help health systems tackle several challenges at once: keeping costs down, expanding care for patients, and reinforcing a commitment to sustainability in healthcare. 
  Read the press release here.
  
  
• Fostering a circular economy through digitalization 
  Siemens Healthineers helped Dr. Lal Pathlabs, one of India’s most prolific diagnostic laboratories, to reduce its environmental footprint while improving workflows and turnaround times through the power of digitalization, cohesive IT, and data. With one-touch testing processes and automated lab workflows to reduce sample touchpoints, they were able to significantly reduce the use of plastic tubes, formerly used to split the sample into multiple portions known as aliquots. These efforts have been so successful that Dr. Lal Pathlabs has reduced sample splitting by 93%. This has freed up valuable testing capacity and has also reduced the volume of plastic waste generated by more than five tons. 
  Find more the details here.

Siemens Healthineers is confident that developing highly diverse and engaged Healthineers is an important part of its shared values and contributes to better business outcomes: 

• Increasing the proportion of women in senior leadership roles to 30 percent by 2025 as well as other forms of diversity. 
• Continuing to strive for the highest levels of employee engagement. 
• Being recognized as a “Great Place to Work” in countries that represent more than 80 percent of employees by 2025.

Example:

• Top employer 
  An annual study by the job portal Glassdoor has revealed the top 25 employers 2023 in Germany in terms of employee satisfaction. Siemens Healthineers in Germany is among the top three. 
  Find more information here.
  
  Siemens Healthineers has again received a full score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index in USA. It is a national benchmarking tool that focuses on corporate policies, practices, and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer employees. 
  Find more information here.

Our employees contribute significantly to the company’s sustainability ambitions. Siemens Healthineers recognizes a strong passion and a desire to personally engage in actively supporting climate action and healthcare access as well as diversity, equity and inclusion – and this is what the company looks forward to supporting through volunteering and employee-led initiatives. 

Partners also play a key role in enabling us to drive this ambition forward, as no organization can solve healthcare and ecological challenges alone.

Example:

• Global and regional partnerships to address challenges of healthcare access 
  Siemens Healthineers has joined IFC's Africa Medical Equipment Facility to make medical imaging and cancer care equipment more affordable on the continent. This participation will help smaller healthcare companies in Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire to purchase or lease medical equipment to better serve patients in terms of diagnosis and care. 
  Find more information here.
  
  Siemens Healthineers is partnering with the City Cancer Challenge Foundation to support city-led cancer solutions to improve and sustain access to equitable, quality cancer care in low- and middle-income countries. 
  Find more information here.

Our commitment to date has convinced 140 jurors of this year's German Sustainability Award for Companies, who selected Siemens Healthineers as one of the Top 100 Sustainability Leaders in Germany for this prestigious award. The winners were announced on October 31. The award ceremony will take place on November 23 in Düsseldorf, Germany. 
Find more information here.

For further information on Sustainability, please see here.