Abstract
Globalization, demographic change, sustainable development, and implications of the Corona virus challenge German hospitals today. In order to improve the quality of care, to operate profitably, and to increase resilience to these general and specific risks, hospitals need to optimize. For this reason, we examine deficiencies in the services offered by German hospitals, in order to discuss current solutions. The hospital managers interviewed for this purpose identify potentials for improvement in communication, responsiveness to patient increases, administration, and IT equipment. The responses about the IT systems in use indicate that the hospitals already apply various technologies, but that these are mostly outdated, have too few interfaces, and, thus, do not meet the requirements of staff and patients. The evaluation shows the long-term potential of using information and communication technologies such as Mobile Health, Big Data, and Internet of Things to solve deficits concerning performance and sustainability. They also contribute to the improvement of many value-added processes. Promising application areas also exist for other technologies such as robotics, virtual and augmented reality, and RFID. Nevertheless, digitization ties up human and financial resources, but serves to save resources through improved planning and hence to promote sustainability.