Hospital Reform and Service-Related Groups

Hospital Reform and Service-Related Groups: Why Medtech Manufacturers Must Understand Their Customers’ Challenges

Germany's healthcare system is undergoing a deep transformation. With the Hospital Care Improvement Act – “Krankenhausversorgungsverbesserungsgesetz” (KHVVG), the Federal Ministry of Health aims to restructure inpatient care, improve quality, and ensure that hospital services are more patient-centered and regionally coordinated.

A central element of this reform is the introduction of service-related groups, a new way of organizing and authorizing hospital services based on specific structural, staffing, and quality criteria.

While the focus is on hospital planning and care delivery, the reform will also significantly affect medical technology manufacturers. For medtech companies that want to remain trusted and relevant partners, understanding the pressures hospitals now face is essential.

What Are Service-Related Groups?

Service-related groups are predefined categories of hospital services. To offer treatments within these groups, hospitals must meet a range of requirements, such as:

- Minimum equipment and infrastructure standards
- Qualified personnel with required certifications
- Documented adherence to clinical pathways and quality metrics.

Hospitals that do not meet these criteria may lose the authorization to provide and bill for these services.

This forces hospitals to:

- Reassess their current service portfolio
- Close or consolidate departments
- Form new regional partnerships
- Make difficult decisions about where to invest or scale back

What This Means for Medtech Manufacturers

Hospitals are entering a period of uncertainty and realignment. Their priorities are shifting:

- From purchasing individual technologies to investing in solutions that enable compliance with service-related group requirements
- From short-term procurement to long-term strategic planning
- From isolated decision-making to regionally coordinated service provision

Medtech companies must adapt their approach. At this time, generic product pitches are not purposeful. It is now important to demonstrate how your solution supports hospitals through this transition.

How Medtech Can Respond

To meet the evolving needs of their hospital clients, medtech companies should take the following steps:

1. Understand the Reform in Detail
Determine which service-related groups apply to your product categories. Understand the structural and staffing requirements associated with them. Follow state-level planning guidelines and implementation timelines.

2. Link Products to Compliance Needs
Instead of focusing on technical specifications alone, demonstrate how your solution helps hospitals fulfill service-related group criteria. Examples include:
- Enabling documentation for stroke units
- Meeting infrastructure needs for intensive care
- Supporting efficiency in surgical workflows with limited staff

3. Engage Hospital Leadership on Strategy
Decision-makers are under pressure. Meet them where they are, focused on strategic value, not just clinical benefit. Show that you understand their challenges and offer relevant, targeted support.

How inspiring-health Supports Medtech and Hospital Management

At inspiring-health, we work with both sides of the table: hospital leadership and medtech companies. This gives us a unique position to bridge perspectives and facilitate meaningful collaboration.

We support hospital management by:

- Guiding readiness assessments for service-related groups
- Developing strategies for restructuring services and regional coordination
- Providing analysis on infrastructure and staffing gaps
Facilitating workshops with clinical and administrative leaders

We support medtech manufacturers by:

- Mapping how service-related groups impact specific product segments
- Delivering practical insight into hospital decision-making during the reform
- Co-developing strategic narratives and market access strategies
- Helping to refine offerings to better support hospital compliance and transformation

Our goal is to help all stakeholders understand the reform—not just at a policy level, but in day-to-day decisions and investments.

The KHVVG marks a turning point in Germany’s hospital landscape. For medtech manufacturers, this reform is both a challenge and a chance. Those who understand the new service-related logic—and the real concerns of hospital leaders—will not only preserve market access but also strengthen long-term partnerships.

inspiring-health is here to help. Whether you're navigating the reform as a hospital or a supplier, we’ll work with you to develop strategies that create value and ensure resilience.