Top Medicine with Responsibility: Clinic of the Future

Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Müller, the Kerckhoff Clinic has a special history. What role does this tradition play today?

Matthias Müller: Our roots are in the Max Planck Society, which wanted to let patients benefit from research findings at an early stage. This idea still shapes us today. As the Kerckhoff Campus of the Justus Liebig University, we take care of the education of future physicians and closely collaborate with Giessen University and the Max Planck Institute in Bad Nauheim. In the field of care for heart, lung, vascular, and rheumatic diseases, we have become an internationally recognized center that offers acute care and rehabilitation from a single source.

Wirtschaftsforum: Since our last conversation in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic, a lot has happened. What changes were particularly formative?

Matthias Müller: After the pandemic, we stabilized everyday clinic operations and initiated important developments. Digitalization is a significant focus and now shapes some of our core processes, including telemedicine, electronic health records, documentation, e-learning, and our online recruiting tool. An important step was the creation and expansion of our personnel development department. It supports our staff professionally and is also responsible for corporate health management. At the same time, various offerings ensure that we provide a comfortable service.

Wirtschaftsforum: What is the significance of the hospital reform initiated by Professor Lauterbach?

Matthias Müller: The reform will occupy us until at least 2030. We welcome the goal to consolidate quality and services – this corresponds to our philosophy as a specialized clinic. What's crucial is a realistic, practice-oriented implementation – especially for patients. To achieve this, we work closely with numerous partners in the health sector to wisely distribute focus areas and ensure quality.

Wirtschaftsforum: How is digitalization affecting everyday clinic operations?

Matthias Müller: We have already established many digital processes, but many steps are still necessary to further improve workflows. From registration to aftercare, many things are digital: electronic diagnostics and surgery documentation or tablets at the bedside. Through telemedicine, we support hundreds of heart patients after their stay. Also, we want to become more efficient in administration and have, among other things, digitalized e-learning and recruiting. Nevertheless, the challenge remains: some patients prefer analog methods, others digital – we must offer both.

Wirtschaftsforum: Artificial Intelligence is widely discussed. How far along are you in this area?

Matthias Müller: AI is often integrated into software today, such as in imaging. It speeds up processes and relieves staff, but currently, it does not replace radiologists or other professionals. Given the demographic trends, automation will become indispensable: With fewer professionals, more patients need to be cared for – AI supports us in this respect in the long term.

Wirtschaftsforum: What makes Kerckhoff Clinic an attractive employer?

Matthias Müller: We enjoy a very good reputation and offer our staff attractive benefits. A structured onboarding and excellent training opportunities make it easier to get started and promote long-term development. Our patients are at the center of everything we do – this is evident from the high satisfaction of our patients with their care by doctors and nursing staff and a recommendation rate of over 90%. It is our committed employees that make the clinic what it is – and many have been with us for a long time. They are highly motivated and approach patients and colleagues with kindness and openness – this defines our culture.

Wirtschaftsforum: As one of the largest heart centers, you are responsible beyond acute care. How do you engage in the field of prevention?

Matthias Müller: Unfortunately, there is still no national prevention program for heart disease. The German Heart Foundation advocates for children's screenings – a sensible approach. We step in when practicing cardiologists reach their limits and then focus on secondary prevention with rehab, support groups, and follow-up care at the campus. In the future, we also aim to participate in lung cancer screening which starts next year. For us, prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation are inseparably linked.

Wirtschaftsforum: What topics will shape your agenda in the coming years?

Matthias Müller: We need to secure the future of our institution while keeping an eye on the hospital reform. We achieve quality through networking – among other things by training general practitioners, collaborating with specialists, the Wetterau Health Center, the University Hospital Giessen, and many other hospitals as well as industrial partners and medical device manufacturers. Modern technologies and medical equipment enhance our cutting-edge medicine. At the same time, all tasks related to personnel and digitalization remain core issues; we are also revising our strategy and building an energy management system.

Wirtschaftsforum: What do you expect from the new Minister of Health and what goals do you set?

Matthias Müller: It is positive that the new Minister of Health is seeking direct dialogue with the clinics again and that the states will have more say in the future. The task of the new responsible persons in the Ministry of Health is to consider the concerns both regionally and supra-regionally in all parts of Germany to ensure future care. It is also clear: the shift towards outpatient care will continue to increase – this will affect the hospitals and everyone must prepare. We expect fair financing that not only enables the upcoming transformation but also secures existing, high-quality patient care in the long term. Our goal remains to work sovereignly and self-determinedly at the top level of a specialty clinic in a network – and to participate in prevention programs as soon as they are established.