BARMER Healthcare and Research Congress 2025: How innovative is Germany's healthcare system?
15.09.2025 17:48
In Germany, innovations too often fail on their way into the healthcare system. How this can be improved, while simultaneously making medical and nursing care more efficient, was discussed by high-ranking representatives from politics, science, and healthcare at the BARMER Healthcare and Research Congress 2025 in Berlin on September 11th.
In addition to political and strategic questions, the discussion focused on practical examples and international experiences. "Germany offers a very innovation-friendly environment. It invests significant resources in research and development, but too little of the results translates into patient care," said Prof. Dr. Christoph Straub, CEO of BARMER. This becomes apparent, for example, when comparing the availability of innovative medicines with healthcare outcomes. Germany maintains a high availability of innovative medicines and spends over €50 billion annually on statutory health insurance. Rising expenditures are primarily driven by patented innovations. However, measured by health outcomes such as life expectancy or the management of cardiovascular diseases, Germany performs below average in international comparisons. From the perspective of statutory health insurance funds, new findings must therefore be implemented and enforced through self-governance. Evidence of effectiveness is the best benchmark for evaluating all interventions. However, the instruments used to demonstrate this effectiveness must adapt to evolving technologies. Straub: „We need novel methods for demonstrating benefits and a comprehensive adaptation of structures and processes for the optimal integration of innovations.“
Perspectives from politics, industry and science
How innovations find their way into the healthcare system was the focus of discussions at the Healthcare and Research Congress, where prominent voices from politics, self-governance, industry, and academia addressed the topic. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Greiner, Chair of Health Economics and Health Management at Bielefeld University and moderator of the congress, emphasized the nature of innovation as a process of creative destruction. Innovations in healthcare often fail due to a combination of high costs, uncertainty about the benefits of an innovation, and institutional risks. Fear of change and the inertia of the system also hinder innovation. Greiner suggested that approaches to innovation management could include innovation funds, pilot projects, and the regulation of access to innovations. "Many barriers to innovation within the system have long been known. It is high time we addressed them," said Tino Sorge, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health. Prof. Josef Hecken, impartial chairman of the Federal Joint Committee, made it clear: "A project is only truly innovative if the proposal itself clearly outlines how it can be integrated into healthcare provision." Robert Welte, Senior Director of Market Access & Reimbursement and member of the management board of Gilead Sciences GmbH, presented the industry perspective: „Innovative therapeutic approaches that address a high unmet medical need, even in small patient populations, as well as the resulting study designs, require further development of the AMNOG (Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products) with regard to both benefit assessment and pricing. Furthermore, ways should be found to ensure that breakthrough innovations in prevention and therapy reach patients more quickly.“ The perspective of the German Council of Experts on Developments in Healthcare and Nursing on the introduction of innovations was presented by Prof. Dr. rer. oec. Leonie Sundmacher, Head of the Department of Health Economics at the School of Medicine & Health at the Technical University of Munich.
Practical examples of successful innovation transfer
Dr. Anna Kron, Commercial Director of the National Network for Genomic Medicine, described practical experiences: „A networked, knowledge-generating healthcare system that actively involves patients – as in the DigiNet project – is the key to good treatment. For innovations to reach their full potential, they must be permanently anchored in the healthcare system.“ Matthias Früh, Head of Health Policy and Public Affairs at the Helsana Group, described experiences from Switzerland: „With its supplementary insurance and the principle of trust in medical treatment, the Swiss healthcare system offers a good foundation for rapid access to innovations. In practice, however, complex approval processes and a lack of tariffs delay the introduction of new treatment options.“ Prof. Dr. Thorsten Brenner, Director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Essen University Hospital, demonstrated how an innovation fund project can be implemented in practice. „The Innovation Fund enabled us to evaluate an innovative diagnostic tool not only with regard to hard clinical endpoints, but also to examine its cost-effectiveness. This perspective goes significantly beyond the normal scope of clinical studies and thus directly paves the way for the transfer of real innovations into routine care,“ said Brenner, consortium leader of the „DigiSep“ project, which focused on a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based method for pathogen diagnostics in sepsis.
Those interested will soon find the presentations of all speakers on the website of the BARMER Institute for Health System Research: BARMER Healthcare and Research Congress 2025.