Across the breadth of today’s highly competitive and rapidly changing healthcare landscape, all providers are under pressure to deliver greater value: better outcomes at lower cost. Significant progress along the road to better value can be made by retaining a sharp focus on a few basic goals and strategies, such as optimizing clinical operations. This is a strategy available to all providers, large and small, in all healthcare settings.
For instance, Hamburg’s Martini-Klinik attained success in optimizing their clinical operations through the disciplined and strategic application of a number of operational principles. This private clinic within the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf is the global leader in prostate surgery. They perform more procedures than any other hospital or clinic and, more importantly, in studies, their reported outcomes are among the best in Germany or comparable countries.
They are also recognized as pioneers in academic and medical research related to prostate surgery and related medical conditions, as well as trailblazers in the collection and application of patient-reported outcome data.
Prostate cancer remains a challenging and complex illness that often comes with significant complications and unpredictable treatment outcomes for physicians and patients. Despite the advances made in recent years, it is still the fifth-leading cause of death worldwide and the second most frequent cancer diagnosis in men, with more than 1.3 million new cases reported worldwide in 2018. Professor Hartwig Huland made the decision to focus narrowly on one field, prostate surgery. In 2005, he co-founded the Martini-Klinik and was appointed physician-in-chief. This choice – whether to “go broad” or “go deep” – is a necessary first step in developing care delivery strategies and protocols that optimize effectiveness. In the case of the Martini-Klinik, three operational principles were embraced: 1) specialization combined with high volumes, 2) a rigorous commitment to follow-up and evaluation of outcomes, and 3) strong patient orientation.
In addition, the Martini-Klinik follows the overarching principle of being a “faculty,” not a “hierarchy,” which permits intense specialization and collaboration and encourages organization-wide excellence. 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.
Once an organization has successfully navigated its way onto this circuit, it enters a continuous loop of success, enabling even better performance within all four segments of the cycle. This results in tangible and meaningful benefits for patients, caregivers, and all other stakeholders.
Read the detailed analysis of how the Martini-Klinik became the global leader in prostate surgery, and which decisions and tactics helped it optimize clinical operations, in the Siemens Healthineers Insights series, Issue 7: Do one thing, and do it better than anyone else.
Click here to download the paper on the Siemens Healthineers website.