Innovations in healthcare of peripheral regions – Greifswald as incubator for the Baltic Sea region?

Abstract

Health care systems are called to reconcile at least three conflicting goals: They have to provide sufficient health care services of appropriate quality for the population, keep the cost at an affordable level, and make services accessible for every member of the society. Achieving all three of these goals at the same time is sometime like squaring the circle: Good ser- vices accessibly for everybody even in peripheral regions require resources and generate costs which – too often – seem inappropriate for many politicians and members of the society. At the same time, high quality ser- vices are only affordable with centralised systems where the number of patients permits sufficient routine. However, this centralisation means that services are not available close of the places where people live, in particu- lar in rural areas. The only answer are innovations of health care provision which increase the efficiency of the system and make it possible to achieve all objectives at the same time. The district of Vorpommern-Greifswald has developed, adopted, and implemented innovations in the field of telemedicine, emergency services, drones, and cross-border health care, which have already proven relevant for the region. These innovations are ready to diffuse into other countries of the Baltic Sea region. At the same time, innovations from other countries could be fruitful innovations seedlings for the district in North-Eastern Germany. However, this would require overcoming a number of financial, cultural, and personal barriers in order to improve the health care situation even in peripheral regions. This paper discusses the “magic triangle” of cost, quality, and accessi- bility as the fundamental goal system of a health care system. Furthermore, it presents some insights into the innovations implemented in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald. Finally, it discusses a model of innovation adop- tion and potentials entering into an adoption and adaption process within the Baltic Sea region.