Innovation is an essential of our corporate strategy. We actively promote innovation within our hospitals, throughout the group and in cooperation with external research and development partners. At the same time, we strive to benefit from the high innovative potential of research activities at universities.

At the hospitals of RHÖN-KLINIKUM Group, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are constantly further advanced with the objective of providing optimised care for our patients. Here are a few examples:

The Zentralklinik Bad Berka houses one of the few whole-body positron-emission tomographs in Germany, a leading-edge technology in the field of interdisciplinary nuclear medicine. This centre is also leading the market in terms of the development of biochemical vertebral bodies as a substitute for patients suffering from the effects of an accident or cancer.

In February 1999, Herzzentrum Leipzig – Universitätsklinik – saw the commissioning of the world’s first experimental operating theatre, set to further develop the use of robots in cardiac surgery and new forms of interventional cardiology.

Since June 2002, the Herz- und Gefäss-Klinik in Bad Neustadt has been home to the world’s first 16-line computer tomograph. This high-tech CT system permits the early detection of the extent and progress of coronary cardiac diseases in a patient-friendly manner, i.e., catheter examination is applied less frequently than before.

At present, we are examining ways of using the scarce knowledge in the world on how to apply proton beam radiotherapy, a programme that involves several of our locations.

With our new Teleportal Clinic concept, we provide a ground-breaking solution for the preservation of small local hospitals outside the big urban centres by means of telemedical networking with the expert knowledge of major general and specialisied hospitals.

We promote the use of new technologies at RHÖN-KLINIKUM hospitals as a rule with our own resources.