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European Union of Private Hospitals

HELIOS celebrates 25 years of company history

OCTOBER 2019. It all starts with four clinics in Bad Schwartau, Bochum, Volkach and Bleicherode: In 1994, vascular surgeon Dr. Lutz Helmig founded the Helios Kliniken Group, today Europe’s largest private hospital group with 86 acute care hospitals in Germany alone.

For company founder Dr. Helmig, satisfied and well-treated patients have been the basic prerequisite for the success of his company right from the start: “Every single measure must lead to a reduction in the suffering for which the patient visits the hospital,” according to his maxim. For Helios, the continuous measurement, improvement and publication of treatment quality will therefore be the linchpin in the acquisition of new clinics and the basis for the company’s dynamic development: When Helios is sold to the healthcare group Fresenius in 2005, 24 clinics are already part of the group.

And the company continues to grow – either through the acquisition of individual clinics or entire hospital groups – such as the Damp Kliniken Group in 2012. Finally, Helios will become an established hospital operator in Germany with the acquisition of 41 clinics from Rhön-Klinikum AG in 2014.

The successes of the Helios quality management system are so comprehensive that it forms the basis of the international Quality Medicine Initiative (IQM), which Helios initiated in 2008 and to which all hospitals, regardless of their status, can join. More than 400 clinics from Germany and Switzerland are members of IQM today.

With the acquisition of the Spanish private hospital group Quirónsalud in 2017, Helios begins its involvement in the foreign hospital market. The international holding company Helios Health unites Helios Germany and Quirónsalud under one roof since 2018.

Today, Helios is Europe’s leading private hospital operator with a total of around 100,000 employees in Germany and Spain and annual sales of 9 billion euros. Every year, around 19 million people opt for medical treatment at Helios. In Germany, in addition to 86 clinics, 126 medical care centres (MVZs) and 10 prevention centres belong to Helios. Quirónsalud operates 47 clinics, 57 outpatient health centres and around 300 occupational health management facilities.

Many clinic locations celebrated the 25th anniversary of the company’s birth over the summer. In very different ways – with sports events, theatre or large parties for employees. “Above all, this birthday is intended to be a celebration for our personnel, without whom the success of our company would not have been possible,” says Franzel Simon, Helios Kliniken CEO. “They all deserve our great thanks for helping to shape the success of our company!”

Discover all the events in the HELIOS clinics on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.