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Meeting highlights:
- Healthcare Challenges & Philips’ Response: Germany faces staffing shortages and financial constraints. Philips addresses this with tech-driven efficiencies and partnerships to help hospitals adapt.
- Hospital Reform & System Changes: The reform will reduce hospitals and shift care to outpatient settings, requiring networked models and remote capabilities, where Philips plays a key role.
- Germany’s Strategic Importance: A top market for Philips with 4,500 employees across the Dach region, major production sites with R&D hubs, and influential hospitals and KOLs shaping global healthcare.
- AI & Innovation: Philips invests heavily in AI and data-driven solutions, improving efficiency, accuracy, and patient experience.
- Sustainability & Accessibility: Carbon neutral since 2020, Philips pioneered helium-free MRI, reducing emissions and expanding healthcare access, even in rural areas.
EF: Could you provide an overview of your current priorities and what we can expect from Philips in the DACH region this year?
MV: For Philips, it is all about providing better care for more people. Healthcare systems, including DACH, are struggling with rising demand, costs, staff shortages, and financial limits. Climate change adds pressure on health systems and affects consumer behavior. Meanwhile, technology and AI are transforming hospital and home care. In this area of tension, we are fully focused on how we can help people take better care of their health work with healthcare providers to overcome these barriers and use innovation to accelerate diagnosis to support better patient outcomes.
One of the industry's most pressing concerns is the staffing shortage in customer service. At a recent conference, I saw multiple hospital booths, not from vendors or companies like Philips but from hospitals themselves actively promoting their institutions to attract clinicians and nurses. This notable shift highlights the significant workforce shortages across the sector.
At the same time, there is a growing need for advanced solutions that generate more diverse data types. While this presents opportunities, it also poses challenges when combined with staffing shortages. Addressing this issue is a priority for us. We aim to develop solutions, products, and an ecosystem that enables customers to operate efficiently despite workforce limitations. Given financial constraints, hospitals and private practices must enhance efficiency while maintaining quality care. We take this challenge seriously and are focused on providing the right support.
Financial challenges are another major concern. Even now, patient volumes in Germany have not returned to pre-COVID levels, affecting hospital and private practice revenues. This adds further strain on financial resources. Additionally, the hospital reform creates uncertainty regarding future investments. Understanding these complexities is crucial as we determine how best to support our customers.
Beyond offering solutions and products, we also explore new operating and partnership models to better serve our care providers. The goal is to provide the flexibility and support they need in an evolving healthcare landscape. These are the priorities we are focusing on as we move into 2025.
EF: Hospital reform brings significant uncertainty for hospitals. How do you view this situation, and how is Philips positioned to navigate these changes?
MV: Uncertainty is certainly a factor. From a timeline perspective, the reform has faced delays, and its evolution remains complex. Additionally, federal states play a significant role in determining what is implemented when it happens, and how it impacts outcomes at the state level.
There is clear guidance on which different categories of hospitals will handle procedures. University hospitals, for instance, will likely expand their role in certain procedures and specialized care due to increased patient volumes. This requires them to assess their need for greater flexibility. Meanwhile, central and smaller hospitals face an uncertain future. It is well known that the goal is to reduce the number of Hospitals significantly. At the same time, more procedures will be shifted from inpatient to outpatient care, making outpatient services increasingly important.
This transition also highlights the need for better connectivity. Hospitals and outpatient providers must establish networks to coordinate diagnosis and treatment efficiently. Patient pathways must be optimized, ensuring smooth transitions between facilities. Additionally, remote capabilities will play a key role in addressing workforce shortages. Diagnosing patients remotely and providing secondary consultations or second opinions will be essential in supporting smaller clinics.
Regarding how we stay ahead in this evolving landscape, the best approach is to remain closely engaged with our customers. Understanding their challenges and identifying the solutions they need is crucial. We are here to help hospitals through our innovation, enabling agility and keeping a patient-first mindset. Beyond that, we also facilitate knowledge sharing, not only within Germany but across other markets. Coming from the Nordics, I often receive questions about how similar reforms were implemented in Denmark or Sweden. These discussions help hospitals navigate uncertainties by learning from international experiences.
Ultimately, navigating these changes requires strong partnerships. Working closely with hospitals on the principles of collaboration allows us to adapt to the evolving landscape and develop solutions that provide the necessary flexibility on both sides.
EF: Could you provide an overview of your presence in the country? Why is Germany strategically important to Philips?
MV: Germany is the beating heart of Europe, and we are here to help hospitals provide better care for more people through meaningful innovation. It has excellent research facilities, world-class hospitals, and a reputation for delivering precision innovation. Therefore, I can not emphasize the size and significance of the German healthcare market. It is one of the largest in the world and plays a crucial role for a global company like Philips. Financially, Germany is among our top markets, but its importance goes well beyond that.
Across the DACH region, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Philips has 4,500 employees. This includes commercial operations and significant investments in manufacturing and R&D. For example, our Böblingen campus is a major hub for patient monitoring, where we drive global innovation with deep expertise. Similarly, our Hamburg site has a long-standing focus on X-ray technology, and in Klagenfurt, Austria, we manufacture personal health products such as oral healthcare solutions. These investments reflect the strong emphasis on quality and expertise that Germany is known for.
Beyond infrastructure, Germany is home to some of the world’s leading hospitals, such as Charité in Berlin, with which we collaborate closely. Many of our latest innovations are tested in Germany as part of our global first-of-its-kind approach, allowing us to co-create and refine solutions alongside top healthcare institutions. Additionally, Germany has a strong network of key opinion leaders whose expertise and influence shape global medical advancements.
A good example of this innovation ecosystem is a recent development from Zurich, where a team of physicians, who are also pilots, helped us rethink how vital signs are visualized in patient monitoring. Inspired by cockpit displays, they contributed to creating a "patient avatar," an intuitive visualization that illustrates real-time heart function and oxygen flow. This project highlights the value of local expertise in driving meaningful advancements.
Finally, an essential factor is the readiness of the German medical community to adopt new technologies. While technical and clinical excellence is critical, true innovation succeeds only when clinicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals embrace it. In Germany, we see strong engagement from our customers, who are willing to explore and implement new solutions in partnership.
All these elements—from market size and expertise to collaboration opportunities and a forward-thinking healthcare ecosystem—make Germany a strategically significant market for Philips.
EF: Could you share some insights into where the company is headed regarding product evolution? What upcoming innovations are you particularly excited about, and which do you believe could significantly impact healthcare?
MV: First and foremost, Philips is an innovation-driven company. We are known for that, and it is something we take great pride in. With over 130 years of history, innovation has always been at the core of what we do. However, we do not innovate for the sake of innovation or ourselves. Our focus is on developing solutions that address our customers' real challenges, pain points, and needs.
One key trend is that innovation cycles are becoming shorter, with new advancements reaching the market faster due to rapid technological progress. At Philips, a significant portion of our R&D investment is directed toward technology, specifically software, data, and AI. We do this because these areas are critical to the future of healthcare.
AI is a great example of how we are addressing major challenges, such as staffing shortages and cost pressures. One of the biggest needs in healthcare today is improving efficiency, including increasing patient throughput. For instance, our latest SmartSpeed Precise technology can further enhance productivity, enabling scans to be completed up to three times faster, significantly cutting scan times while maintaining exceptional image quality.
Additionally, AI is critical in enhancing image quality, making diagnostics more precise and reliable. At the core of SmartSpeed Precise, for example, we have a dual-AI engine, which delivers an 80% improvement in image sharpness, enhancing visualization for more confident and accurate diagnoses. Our AI solutions are designed to empower radiologists by providing deeper insights and enabling remote diagnostics.
In summary, it’s a better experience for patients and the hospital team supporting them. It also means you often get a better image, resulting in faster diagnosis, too. Innovations like this really make an impact on what is needed for the patient and the healthcare professional. It also means more patients can be seen daily, clearing some of those backlogs and enabling teams to provide more care in a single shift.
While AI, data, and software development are major focus areas for us, innovation at Philips is also about collaboration. As I mentioned earlier, we believe in co-creation with our customers. Instead of developing solutions in isolation behind closed doors, we work closely with healthcare providers to ensure that innovation directly addresses real-world needs.
It is one thing we can do as Philips or as an industry, and it is another thing about how we can collaborate with our customers to drive meaningful change. However, there are additional factors at play. Even if we develop a solution with our customers that improves patient flow efficiency, regulatory requirements still impact implementation.
For example, we have developed a solution that enables intensive care units to operate more efficiently. However, German regulations mandate a specific number of staff in an ICU, which may no longer be necessary if a hospital adopts a more advanced, efficiency-driven approach. In such cases, regulators must evolve alongside industry advancements, working collaboratively with us and our customers to ensure regulations keep pace with innovation.
By adapting regulatory frameworks, we can help address staffing shortages and unlock greater efficiencies across the healthcare system. This is just one example of how multiple factors must align to drive real progress. Ultimately, we are responsible for facilitating dialogue between our customers and regulators to ensure these innovations can be effectively implemented.
EF: Could you share your perspective on Philips' commitment to sustainability and how it is being implemented in the DACH region?
MV: Philips has long been a frontrunner in sustainability and is strongly committed to driving environmental responsibility across its operations. Since 2020, we have been carbon neutral in all our operations, continuously focusing on reducing our environmental impact. This includes optimizing our business travel, logistics, and operational sites while compensating for unavoidable emissions. We are committed to using 100% renewable electricity across all our facilities.
Beyond our internal operations, we are embedding sustainability into our innovations, expanding our energy-efficient and circular solutions portfolio, including digital and cloud-based technologies. Our goal is to help reduce hospitals' overall carbon footprint, which globally accounts for approximately 4% of total emissions.
A concrete example of our impact is the Philips BlueSeal MRI, which significantly reduces helium consumption. Traditional MRI scanners required 1,000 to 1,500 liters of helium, a scarce global resource. Since launching our BlueSeal magnet in 2018, which uses just seven liters of helium, we have deployed nearly 1,500 units worldwide, saving approximately 22 million liters of helium. This innovation enhances operational efficiency and directly supports sustainability efforts in healthcare.
Furthermore, we expect the same commitment from our partners, suppliers, and customers, ensuring sustainability is embedded across the healthcare value chain. In healthcare, the main share of carbon emissions (71%) is indirect emissions caused by the production and transportation of goods and services that hospitals purchase, such as medicines, food, equipment, clothing, and waste treatment.
Reducing these is a big opportunity. We have strategic programs to help our suppliers improve their sustainability performance. This covers assessments of supplier sustainability performance, management of regulated substances, conflict minerals, greening the supply chain, improvement of working conditions, and responsible sourcing initiatives. With this, we aim to reach our overarching goal of enabling hospitals to deliver more efficient and environmentally responsible care to patients.
EF: Looking back on your journey at Philips, what accomplishments are you most proud of? And as you look ahead, what excites you the most about the future?
MV: What I am most proud of and why I am still here is that Philips is a purpose-driven company. Everything we do has a direct impact on people’s lives. For decades, Philips has been at the forefront of groundbreaking innovations, continually evolving to meet new challenges.
At its core, Philips is about one thing: innovation with purpose. That is what drives me every morning. Our goal is to make a real difference in people’s health and well-being, and that commitment has remained constant, whether through our ongoing advancements or our response during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ultimately, it is about providing the best solutions and innovations to help our customers deliver better care while improving patient outcomes worldwide. That shared passion keeps us moving forward and makes me proud to be part of this organization.
