This new technology partnership kicked off September 1, 2022, marks the first time that Siemens Healthineers is collaborating with a municipal medical service provider to implement a concept it has successfully pursued internationally with major networked healthcare providers and full-service hospitals.
The scope of this technology partnership will see Siemens Healthineers supply all ANregiomed locations over the next ten years with the technical medical devices and systems they need for diagnostic imaging and image-guided intervention, service this equipment, and ensure all systems keep pace with the state of the art over the full term of the agreement. Dräger, another technology partner in the agreement, will also provide and maintain medical devices in particular in the fields of anesthesia, ventilation, and monitoring.
Siemens Healthineers assumes overall responsibility for the agreement, and will prepare and implement jointly with ANregiomed an innovation and optimization project every year of the partnership. These projects will encompass, for example, telemedicine for communication between the hospital locations and cooperation partners, or a digital user platform to make information available on increasing efficiency, optimizing processes, and improving patient interaction. The partnership also includes training and continuing education of hospital staff as well as advising on approaches to recruiting personnel and gaining their long-term commitment, such as Siemens Healthineers itself successfully practices.
Initially concluded for a ten-year term, ANregiomed also has an option to extend the contract for an additional five years.
"This technology partnership marks the opening of a new chapter in our cooperative partnering with healthcare providers and other collaborating firms in the medical technology industry," explains Dr. Bernd Ohnesorge, President for Europe, Middle East & Africa at Siemens Healthineers. "A model that has already functioned very well worldwide with major networked healthcare service providers and full-service hospitals we now want to successfully further develop jointly with ANregiomed based on the needs of this regional healthcare provider. We also want patients in our region to benefit from their close proximity to our global development centers in Erlangen and Forchheim."
The company Dräger TGM GmbH will take charge of supplying the entire biomedical equipment scope at the three ANregiomed locations and their affiliated medical care centers. All told, this scope of supply and services comprises some 6,500 devices. Dräger will also provide patient monitoring, ventilation, and anesthesia devices as well as infusion pumps and endoscopic instruments. Dräger will integrate all equipment operators at an early stage so that new devices can be put to use as seamlessly as possible.
"Smooth operation of all medical devices is important to enabling adequate care of patients. Even if this is our field of expertise, good collaboration with the equipment operators on equal terms plays an essential role. For example, our colleagues closely coordinate with ANregiomed employees to ensure uniform standards are applied in the operation and maintenance of medical devices and the handling of any fault messages or reports. We thereby help to make their routine hospital procedures and daily work easier and more pleasant. They have more time for their patients, and patient stays in the hospitals can be made even safer," says Bernhard Schenk, managing director of Dräger TGM GmbH.
The ANregiomed hospital group expects to reap an enormous boost in technology from the partnership, while significantly reducing overall costs. As many systems will be replaced already within the first 18 months, compensation for investment outlays will come quickly. This will improve the quality and process workflows of medical care due in part to the fact that, thanks to the shorter examination times and more modern equipment, the radiation exposure of patients is reduced to an absolute minimum. Standardizing the medical equipment throughout the entire hospital group will also enable cross-location deployment of personnel without need for additional time-consuming technical training.
"The use of state-of-the-art technology makes a hospital particularly attractive for employees in all medical occupational groups. In light of the fact that, for us as well – like many other hospitals – it will become steadily more difficult in future to recruit and keep specialized medical staff, we're working directly to counter this shortage of qualified personnel," notes ANregiomed CEO Dr. med. Gerhard M. Sontheimer, with conviction. "By implementing this project, our municipal company is breaking fresh ground. We've managed to convince two world-renowned partner companies to stand shoulder to shoulder with ANregiomed moving forward: technically outfitted to the state of the art, offering a medical portfolio of the highest standard, both outpatient and inpatient, for patients in the city and district of Ansbach who count on us a their most important healthcare service provider."
About Siemens Healthineers
Siemens Healthineers AG (listed in Frankfurt, Germany: SHL) pioneers breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. As a leading medical technology company headquartered in Erlangen, Germany, Siemens Healthineers and its regional companies is continuously developing its product and service portfolio, with AI-supported applications and digital offerings that play an increasingly important role in the next generation of medical technology. These new applications will enhance the company's foundation in in-vitro diagnostics, image-guided therapy, in-vivo diagnostics, and innovative cancer care. Siemens Healthineers also provides a range of services and solutions to enhance healthcare providers’ ability to provide high-quality, efficient care. In fiscal 2021, which ended on September 30, 2021, Siemens Healthineers, which has approximately 66,000 employees worldwide, generated revenue of €18.0 billion and adjusted EBIT of €3.1 billion.
About Dräger
Dräger is an international leader in the fields of medical and safety technology. "Technology for Life" is the company's guiding principle. Whether in the operating theater, intensive care unit, the fire department, or among emergency responders: Dräger products protect, support, and save lives. In the medical world, Dräger offers its clients anesthesia workstations, ventilation devices for intensive care and emergency medical services, patient monitoring systems, and devices for medical care of preterm and newborn infants. With medical ceiling supply units, IT solutions for operating theaters, and gas management systems, the company stands by its hospital clients in every facet of their work. The company also offers an extensive range of services and develops custom-tailored solutions, training programs and seminars. Established in 1889, Dräger recorded global sales of some EUR 3.3 billion in 2021. Based in Lübeck, Germany, the company is present in over 190 countries and employs more than 15,000 people worldwide.
About ANregiomed
ANregiomed is an allied group of hospitals and clinics serving the German cities of Ansbach (360-bed tertiary-care hospital), Dinkelsbühl (145-bed primary- and secondary-care hospital), Rothenburg (165-bed primary- and secondary-care hospital), and Feuchtwangen (clinic for short-term care and outpatient services). All of these locations offer a comprehensive range of outpatient services in medical care centers. There, some 30 specialist physicians covering a broad range of disciplines along with their practice teams contribute significantly to the outpatient care in the western Central Franconia region and the adjacent area of Baden-Württemberg. The group also includes the Center for Nursing Professions of the ANregiomed Academy, with training facilities at all of the hospital locations, as well as the firm ANregiomed Instruclean Service GmbH (ANIS), which ensures supply of sterilized equipment for the entire group.The entire municipal company of the district and city of Ansbach has some 2,300 employees in total, and generates annual revenue of approximately EUR 150 million.