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Cancer Care: New Value Chains Challenge German Hospital Structures—A Comprehensive Cancer Center Perspective

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Abstract

The medical and economic impact of cancer is a major challenge for hospitals in every country. Comprehensive cancer centers (CCC) are at the forefront to fight cancer. From an organizational perspective these large centers are highly complex. They combine patient-oriented cancer care with basic, translational and population-based cancer research. These centers cannot operate as stand-alone organizations but rely on cooperation in a network of hospitals and office-based physicians. The medical progress in recent years—which is often referred to as personalized or precision medicine—comes with hope for patients but also with diagnostic, organizational and financial challenges. Especially clinical trials are time-consuming and costly but indispensable being the backbone of treatment progress. A growing economic pressure results from a policy of increased competition on the one hand and a strict separation of ambulatory and inpatient care on the other hand. In this article we discuss the challenges and opportunities from the perspective of the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO) Köln Bonn which is one of the largest CCCs in Germany. The political, scientific and economic challenges and opportunities are described as well as possible solutions including practical experience.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Japanese business man Taiichi Ohno is considered the father of the Toyota Production System, which became/the precursor of lean manufacturing in the United States.

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Correspondence to Jan-Peter Glossmann .

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© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kron, F., Bernschein, A., Kostenko, A., Wolf, J., Hallek, M., Glossmann, JP. (2016). Cancer Care: New Value Chains Challenge German Hospital Structures—A Comprehensive Cancer Center Perspective. In: Albach, H., Meffert, H., Pinkwart, A., Reichwald, R., von Eiff, W. (eds) Boundaryless Hospital. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49012-9_2

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