DGAP-News: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG (english)

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG:One of Europe's biggest e-health projects is launched



RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG / Contract/Alliance



18.09.2007



Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.

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JOINT PRESS RELEASE



RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG and Siemens AG Medical Solutions introduce intra-facility

electronic patient file (WebEPA)



One of Europe's biggest e-health projects is launched



Bad Neustadt a. d. S. / Erlangen, 18 September 2007



RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG will link up all its facilities, currently numbering 46,

using a web-based electronic patient file (WebEPA) and will launch a

web-based electronic patient file (WebEPA). In future the aim of this

system is to benefit the more than 1 million patients the Group treats each

year with provably higher treatment quality. Siemens Medical Solutions,

working together with Soarian Integrated Care (Soarian IC), will provide

the software for the WebEPA. This is what is provided for in the agreement

signed today in Bad Neustadt a. d. S. between Wolfgang Pföhler, Chairman of

the Board of Management of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, and Prof. Dr. Erich R.

Reinhardt, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and President of

Siemens Medical Solutions. With the WebEPA - one of the biggest e-health

projects on the European health market - both partners underscore their

pioneering role in integrated healthcare delivery that is wholly oriented

to the needs of patients.



The WebEPA is a jointly developed electronic platform allowing for medical

data to be exchanged between institutions and facilities within the

healthcare system Germany-wide. It will enable communication between the

various clinical documentation, hospital information, image storage and

doctor's practice systems at a total of 46 hospitals and the respective

medical care centres (MVZs) of the RHÖN-KLINIKUM Group. With the patient's

consent, it will thus be possible for information such as admissions,

discharge letters and findings to be exchanged between those doctors

involved in that patient's treatment. The roll-out the WebEPA throughout

the Group comes after its successful testing in a pilot project at

Herzzentrum Leipzig (University Hospital) and Parkkrankenhaus

Leipzig-Südost - both facilities of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG. After that an

extension of the co-operation to the outpatient area, in particular

community-based doctors, is planned.



The software components of the WebEPA developed by Siemens, based on

Soarian IC, include reports, images and medical data relating to findings,

a module for consultations among physicians as well as what is referred to

as a master patient index (MPI) allowing clear identification of patients

beyond a facility's boundaries. The contractual parties see this joint

further development of the WebEPA as the opportunity to establish a market

standard for an interoperable structure spanning the various healthcare

sectors allowing for process-oriented co-operation and co-productions of

service partnerships in the fast-changing healthcare system.



With this project Siemens will further expand its leading position on the

European e-health sector. Here, Siemens expertise ranges from regional to

national networking of the providers involved. One current example comes

from France, where Siemens implemented some 5,000 electronic patient files

in the entire region of Limousin which are already being used there as part

of a pilot project - in both the outpatient and inpatient areas. And in

Scotland a screening programme for the early detection of diabetic

retinopathy with 213,000 registered patients has been under way for over a

year. In Germany, Siemens will conclude framework agreements for connectors

(interfaces between existing information systems and central telematic

services) and lead the market for these in the field tests to be launched

in the spring.



RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG has moreover joined together with other hospitals, public

facilities and the Fraunhofer Institute of Software and Systems Engineering

(ISST) as part of the electronic case file (eFA) project to form an open

consortium, and has chosen Siemens as its industrial partner. Siemens and

RHÖN-KLINIKUM are jointly working on the specification for the eFA. In

future the WebEPA will pool all data of a treatment case based on the eFA

standard, thus giving the treating physicians a secure means of exchanging

data both between the different healthcare sectors and hospitals. The

contractual parties expect the eFA to make an important contribution

towards optimising patient care as part of the Germany-wide communication

platform - the telematic infrastructure - being planned by the German

Federal Ministry of Health.



'The WebEPA will be key to a big leap forward in the quality of patient

care. It pools a patient's medically relevant information from the

integrated providers, thus helping the treating doctors with important

diagnosis and therapy decisions. That will also cut costs in healthcare.

Today we have thus taken another big step towards realising our corporate

vision of making good medicine affordable to all', Wolfgang Pföhler said.



'Thanks to our comprehensive healthcare IT solution, we are enabling

processes to be optimised across sectors and for integrated and efficient

treatment procedures to be developed between the various providers in the

healthcare system - all with a view to making patients the focus of

interest in treatments', explained Prof. Dr. Erich R. Reinhardt. This is

made possible by Siemens combined know-how and experience as the world's

first integrated diagnostics company in the fields of imaging diagnostics

and therapy, lab medicine and clinical information systems. The objective

is to enhance the quality of medical care whilst reducing costs.



RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG is a leading private hospital service provider and is

committed to the highest standards of patient-oriented care combining the

very best quality of service with good value. Our corporate aim and purpose

is to build and operate hospitals, primarily acute hospitals at all care

levels. RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG we went public in 1989, thus becoming the first

listed hospital group in Germany. In financial year 2006 the Group

generated revenues of nearly 2 billion euros and a net profit of 108

million euros. RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG shares the values and goals of the German

healthcare system whose efficiency and benefits it wishes to uphold for

patients also in future based on the principle of 'rationalisation before

rationing'. Currently the Group has 46 hospitals (44 acute/2 in rehab

sector) at 35 locations counting some 15,000 beds and places. The Group

currently employs a staff of more than 31,000. More information can be

found under: www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com.



Siemens Medical Solutions is one of the largest suppliers to the healthcare

industry in the world. The division offers innovative products and

end-to-end solutions as well as a broad range of services and consulting.

This is rounded off by imaging systems for diagnosis and therapy, molecular

medicine and audiology, as well as IT solutions. The latest acquisitions in

the field of in vitro lab diagnostics - such as Diagnostic Products

Corporation and Bayer Diagnostics - have paved the way for Siemens to

become the world's first integrated diagnostics company. Thanks to all

these solutions, Siemens Medical Solutions enables its customers to achieve

visible results both in the clinical and administrative areas - known as

'proven outcomes'. Siemens innovations help optimise workflows in

hospitals, medical practices and in the area of integrated care, thus

raising efficiency within the healthcare system. Employing over 41,000

people worldwide and operating in over 130 countries, Siemens Medical

Solutions generated sales of EUR 8.23 billion and an order intake of EUR 9.33

billion for fiscal 2006 (Sept. 30), according to US GAAP. The divisional

result was EUR 1.06 billion. More information can be found under:

www.siemens.com/medical.

________________

For

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG

Schlossplatz 1

D-97616 Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale

Sallwey & Partner

Brigitte Sallwey

Telemannstr. 18

D-60322 Frankfurt

Tel.: 069-97 203 628

____________________________

Siemens AG Medical Solutions

Henkestraße 127

D-91052 Erlangen

Axel Wieczorek

Leiter Public Relations

a.wieczorek@siemens.com

Tel.: 09131-84 8335













Brigitte Sallwey

Sallwey & Partner

Telemannstr. 18

D-60322 Frankfurt

Tel.: 069-97 203 628











18.09.2007 Financial News transmitted by DGAP



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Language: English

Issuer: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG

Schlossplatz 1

97616 Bad Neustadt a.d.Saale

Deutschland

Phone: +49 (0)9771 - 65-0

Fax: +49 (0)9771 - 97 467

E-mail: fire.ir@rhoen-klinikum-ag.com

Internet: www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com

ISIN: DE0007042301

WKN: 704230

Indices: MDAX

Listed: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München;

Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart



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