Klinik Gut and Spital Oberengadin establish a joint clinic for the musculoskeletal system
Klinik Gut and Spital Oberengadin are heading into the future together. From summer 2022, all patients with complaints or injuries to the musculoskeletal system will be treated in a new, joint center at Oberengadin Hospital. In St. Moritz, a joint permanence is being created for emergencies and consultations, but without an operating room and a ward.
The Oberengadin Health Care Foundation, to which Oberengadin Hospital belongs, and Klinik Gut AG have signed a declaration of intent to deepen their existing cooperation and operate a new joint clinic. They want to treat all patients with complaints, injuries and consequences of musculoskeletal accidents together in Samedan in the future.
The expansion of the existing partnership creates the conditions for Upper Engadine to have high-quality, broad medical care for its residents and guests in the medium to long term, said those responsible for the two partners to the media on Thursday in St. Moritz. Together, the partners will treat more patients and can thus further strengthen the quality of medical treatment, the experience and training of their employees, and profitability. No job reductions are foreseen. The remaining treatment areas at the Oberengadin Hospital will continue to be offered as before.
The activities of Klinik Gut in Nordbünden will also continue independently of the partnership in Südbünden. The Canton of Grisons welcomes the intensification of cooperation, as the responsible Councillor Peter Peyer said at the media briefing on Thursday. The representatives of the municipalities on the SGO Board of Trustees unanimously approved the cooperation on Wednesday.
background
The private clinic Gut AG and the Oberengadin Health Care Foundation (SGO) are combining their orthopedics and traumatology of the musculoskeletal system in Engadin. Klinik Gut needs a replacement location for its parent company in St. Moritz.
At the same time, the Upper Engadin Health Care Foundation is looking for ways to secure medical care in South Bünden in the medium and long term. By deepening cooperation, Oberengadin Hospital can benefit even more from Klinik Gut's medical specialization in the musculoskeletal system and make better use of its high-quality infrastructure. In future, Klinik Gut will be able to draw on the wide range of medical services offered by the Upper Engadine Hospital, including an intensive care unit, and refrain from building a new clinic with operating rooms and a ward.
However, the partners in St. Moritz are working together to create permanence.
Joint clinic at Samedan Hospital
In future, all patients from the two partners will be operated on and hospitalized in a new joint clinic at Samedan Hospital. This deepens the cooperation that has existed since the end of 2017. Since more patients are treated together, the quality for patients can be further improved and profitability can be strengthened. The new clinic for orthopedics and traumatology of the musculoskeletal system is run by a joint company.
At Oberengadin Hospital, she will rent an entire, largely unused floor of the ward and one of the three modern operating rooms, which is also rarely used today. If the permanently rented capacity is not sufficient during peak periods, the new clinic can draw on additional rooms and staff from the Upper Engadin Hospital. The rest of the services offered by the Oberengadin Hospital will remain unchanged, but the cooperation will further strengthen the expertise of trauma surgery.
New permanence for emergencies and office hours in St. Moritz
While operations and operations of the ward are being concentrated in Samedan, the two partners in St. Moritz are planning to operate a joint permanence. It offers an emergency service seven days a week, minor outpatient procedures and consultations with specialists from Klinik Gut and the Oberengadin Hospital. It should not function as a competitor, but as a complement to the services offered by local doctors and therapists.
The planned permanence can also be supplemented by practices and treatment rooms of established doctors and therapists, so that a new medical services center can be created in St. Moritz. Cooperation with the health hotel planned as part of the Serletta Süd project is also possible. However, nothing has yet been decided on the location of Permanence in St. Moritz.
Securing medical care in Südbünden
Regional healthcare and the hospital landscape are under great pressure to change and centralize. Regulatory authorities and insurers are demanding that hospitals and doctors achieve ever higher minimum case numbers per year for their treatments in order to ensure the safety, medical quality and cost-effectiveness of the treatments. Without the merger of the two successful Engadin clinics, inpatient medical care in Südbünden would therefore be endangered in the medium term.
However, the creation of the center in Samedan and the Permanence in St. Moritz will improve the range of medical care in both locations. The joint clinic creates the opportunity to treat more locals and guests directly in the region, attract additional patients from other cantons and abroad, and thus grow sustainably and secure jobs.
Win-win situation through deepening cooperation
SGO and Klinik Gut are both entering into this in-depth cooperation from a position of strength. SGO is to acquire around 30 percent of the new operating company and Klinik Gut AG around 70 percent. The investment ratio corresponds to the current market position of the two companies in the areas of orthopedics and traumatology of the musculoskeletal system. In the area of orthopedics, the two clinics have been working together since the end of 2017: Doctors from Klinik Gut carry out consultations and operations in Samedan for patients who suffer from musculoskeletal problems.
In traumatology, i.e. the treatment of accidental injuries to the musculoskeletal system, the two houses are now in competition. Cooperation under one roof will further strengthen the treatment of all types of accidental injuries. The Oberengadin Hospital has unused capacity. The fourth floor of the ward and one of the three modern operating rooms are rarely used today. However, these rooms incur running costs. By creating the new, joint center, they can now be used sensibly in the long term and generate income for the Upper Engadin Hospital.
The new center also contributes to the hospital's running costs for the emergency unit, the intensive care unit and a range of internal services before and behind the scenes. Together, SGO and Klinik Gut employ more than 600 people in the Upper Engadin and train specialists and doctors. The partnership does not provide for a reduction in the total number of jobs and no layoffs are expected. However, the partnership will help make healthcare in Südbünden even more attractive for employees and strengthen training opportunities.
Opening in spring 2022
By combining operating operations and the ward, Klinik Gut is able to forego part of its planned investments for a new clinic in St. Moritz and thus also save costs. The company has been looking for a new location for its parent company in St. Moritz for more than 15 years. The “Serletta Süd” project, where a new hospital building and a health hotel are to be built, is blocked by court proceedings, so that Klinik Gut had to look for alternative locations. Klinik Gut Fläsch and Klinik Gut's practice locations in Nordbünden, St. Gallen, Tessin and Zurich are not part of the partnership.
Approval from municipalities and the canton
“The close cooperation between Oberengadin Hospital and Klinik Gut is an example of how the Graubünden government envisions sustainable structures,” Councillor Peter Peyer, Head of the Department of Justice, Safety and Health, told the media on Thursday. “Together, the two partners are better able to ensure regional care for residents of the region and guests who spend their holidays here. I am delighted with this collaboration.”
The representatives of the municipalities also expressed their approval: On the SGO Board of Trustees, they unanimously said yes to the continuation of negotiations on cooperation. The letter of intent that has now been signed between Klinik Gut AG and SGO sets out the floor plans of the planned partnership. The detailed contracts will be negotiated by the end of 2020. After its completion, implementation begins, which includes the organization, but also the structural development of the hospital in Samedan. From early summer 2022, the joint center in Samedan will treat patients.
The joint permanence for emergencies and consultation hours in St. Moritz is to start operations one year later.
About Klinik Gut
Klinik Gut specializes in the human musculoskeletal system. Specialists for shoulders, elbows, hands, spine, hips, knees, ankles and feet as well as pain and physiotherapists treat complaints arising from illness or consequences of accidents. The sports doctors at Klinik Gut look after individual athletes and teams from Germany and abroad.
The private hospital company based in Graubünden is owned by seven partner doctors. It operates two clinics in St. Moritz and Fläsch, practice locations in Chur, Bad Ragaz, Buchs (SG), Zürich Airport and Ascona as well as partnerships with the regional hospitals Savognin, Samedan and Poschiavo and employs around 230 people. In 2019, more than 2,600 inpatients were operated on in the clinics and practices of Klinik Gut and performed just over 22,000 outpatient consultations and operations. Almost two thirds of patients treated have general insurance.
About Oberengadin Hospital
The supra-regional Oberengadin Hospital in Samedan is the second-largest hospital in Graubünden and, with over 360 employees, the largest year-round employer in Engadin. The hospital provides basic medical care for locals and guests. The Oberengadin Hospital also has a comprehensive, interdisciplinary 24-hour emergency center and a recognized intensive care unit with 6 beds. The Upper Engadin Hospital also has a helicopter landing pad and an Upper Engadine rescue base. The Oberengadin Hospital has been cooperating with Klinik Gut in the area of orthopedics for years.
In other areas, Oberengadin Hospital works with various hospitals in the canton. In 2019, 2,892 inpatients and 20,828 outpatients were treated at Oberengadin Hospital. A quarter of all patients treated have semi-private/private insurance.
personals
Dr. med. Adrian Urfer, Delegate of the Board of Directors, Klinik Gut AG
081 836 34 24
a.urfer@klinik-gut.ch
Beat Moll, CEO, Engadin Health Care Foundation/Oberengadin Hospital
081 851 84 90
moll.beat@spital.net
Christian Gartmann is the communications officer for this project.