At yesterday's Federal Health Gala in Berlin, the IT strategy of the Malteser Maintenance Company (Malteser Trägergesellschaft gGmbH – MTG) was put forward as one of the three top IT concepts of the year in German health care. The VHitG Award is presented every year at the ITeG specialist Trade Fair by the Association of Health Care IT Solution Suppliers (Verband der Hersteller von IT-Lösungen für das Gesundheitswesen — VHitG) and the trade magazine, Klinikmanagement Aktuell ("Clinic Management Today"), to outstanding projects in the field of health care.
The Malteser have been implementing a comprehensive IT concept since 2005; hospitals, institutions for care of the aged, out-patient care services and hospices at more than 50 locations have all been linked to a corporate network. Offices of the Malteser care service at a further 200 locations are also connected to the network. In collaboration with the ICT service provider, Pironet NDH, the Malteser were thus able to do away with technological "islands" and counter uncontrolled equipment growth; all important applications and databases have now been centralized in the Pironet NDH data center. The 7000 users access their software applications via the service provider's encrypted network.
Future-oriented Concepts and More Efficient Processes
The central focus of this process was formed by strategic considerations, with particular emphasis on the area of hospitals, where complex processes make future-oriented concepts essential. "By outsourcing the data center operation, we were able to release our IT employees from the ongoing maintenance tasks that hitherto took up 90% of working time," explains Bernd Christoph Meisheit, CIO and member of the Malteser management board. This enabled the IT specialists to spend more and more time developing architecture for hospital processes. "Medical-IT experts put all the processes in our facilities to the test, with the aim of improving them by means of modern IT systems," explains Meisheit.
Thanks to the setting-up of their own spin-off IT service company and the ICT outsourcing to Pironet NDH, the Malteser now save €3.5 million every year. This is equivalent to 22% of their previous budget for information and communication technology
With its new ICT strategy, the Malteser Organization is well equipped for the challenges of next few years, according to Pironet NDH board member, Felix Höger: "The centralized and tightly controlled IT structure, coupled with flexible tariff models, enables the Malteser to connect new locations extremely quickly to their network of services, to the Malteser Network and to our data center."
IT director Meisheit sees the Malteser project as a typical example of developments in health care: "The most significant aim is to lower costs while maintaining or improving the quality of medical care. This cannot, however, be prescribed by law. Just as in other lines of business, the goal is to increase productivity by employing modern technology and new business models. In health care this can be summed up as follows: less administration and more time for the patient."
About the MTG MalteserTrägergesellschaft gGmbH
In the MTG Malteser Trägergesellschaft gGmbH (MTG), the Order of Malta brings together the supervision and management of its current ten hospitals, the Special Clinic for Natural Medicine, 21 institutions for care of the aged, ten in-patient hospices/palliative wards and nine out-patient care services throughout Germany. More than 5,900 staff provide care for approximately 100,000 patients and others in need of care every year. The in-patient institutions are amongst the oldest foundations of the Order of Malta in Germany. The first hospital in Flensburg was established in 1864.
The Malteser have been implementing a comprehensive IT concept since 2005; hospitals, institutions for care of the aged, out-patient care services and hospices at more than 50 locations have all been linked to a corporate network. Offices of the Malteser care service at a further 200 locations are also connected to the network. In collaboration with the ICT service provider, Pironet NDH, the Malteser were thus able to do away with technological "islands" and counter uncontrolled equipment growth; all important applications and databases have now been centralized in the Pironet NDH data center. The 7000 users access their software applications via the service provider's encrypted network.
Future-oriented Concepts and More Efficient Processes
The central focus of this process was formed by strategic considerations, with particular emphasis on the area of hospitals, where complex processes make future-oriented concepts essential. "By outsourcing the data center operation, we were able to release our IT employees from the ongoing maintenance tasks that hitherto took up 90% of working time," explains Bernd Christoph Meisheit, CIO and member of the Malteser management board. This enabled the IT specialists to spend more and more time developing architecture for hospital processes. "Medical-IT experts put all the processes in our facilities to the test, with the aim of improving them by means of modern IT systems," explains Meisheit.
Thanks to the setting-up of their own spin-off IT service company and the ICT outsourcing to Pironet NDH, the Malteser now save €3.5 million every year. This is equivalent to 22% of their previous budget for information and communication technology
With its new ICT strategy, the Malteser Organization is well equipped for the challenges of next few years, according to Pironet NDH board member, Felix Höger: "The centralized and tightly controlled IT structure, coupled with flexible tariff models, enables the Malteser to connect new locations extremely quickly to their network of services, to the Malteser Network and to our data center."
IT director Meisheit sees the Malteser project as a typical example of developments in health care: "The most significant aim is to lower costs while maintaining or improving the quality of medical care. This cannot, however, be prescribed by law. Just as in other lines of business, the goal is to increase productivity by employing modern technology and new business models. In health care this can be summed up as follows: less administration and more time for the patient."
About the MTG MalteserTrägergesellschaft gGmbH
In the MTG Malteser Trägergesellschaft gGmbH (MTG), the Order of Malta brings together the supervision and management of its current ten hospitals, the Special Clinic for Natural Medicine, 21 institutions for care of the aged, ten in-patient hospices/palliative wards and nine out-patient care services throughout Germany. More than 5,900 staff provide care for approximately 100,000 patients and others in need of care every year. The in-patient institutions are amongst the oldest foundations of the Order of Malta in Germany. The first hospital in Flensburg was established in 1864.
