With the appointment of the manager, Sana Kliniken is sending a clear signal of how important the company is to digital transformation.
She is an experienced manager and IT expert and has experienced many industries in more than three decades of professional activity. Stefanie Kemp, who was originally trained as a registered pediatric nurse, is now returning to the healthcare sector.
In September, she will assume the position of Chief Transformation Officer on the board of the third-largest private German hospital operator, Sana Kliniken AG. The 58-year-old is leaving the US software company Oracle, where she has been head of Germany since June 2020.
“For me, joining the Sana Board of Directors marks the end of my career path,” emphasizes Kemp. After so many years in charge of the transformation and digital conversion in various industries, she can now “devote herself to a matter close to her heart, to contribute to the improvement of the healthcare system,” says Kemp.
With the newly created board position and the appointment of Kemp, the Munich-based hospital group Sana is sending a clear signal of how important the company is to digital transformation. As Chief Transformation Officer, Stefanie Kemp will be responsible for all digital areas and projects, information technology, and process optimization and management.
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Sana Supervisory Board Chairman Ulrich Leitermann praises Kemp’s “excellent expertise”. She gained a lot of professional experience in responsible positions as Chief IT Officer at several financial service providers, the family company Vorwerk and the former energy company Innogy SE as Chief Digital Officer.
Outpatient instead of inpatient treatment
There is a lot to do in healthcare right now for IT and digital professionals like Kemp. More and more patients want to be treated on an outpatient basis instead of inpatient, the current system is considered inefficient, and digital solutions to improve processes are urgently needed. The hospital future law, which was passed under the former Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU), should be given a new boost with a financial injection worth billions. But the implementation of the projects is taking longer than planned – also because of the shortage of skilled workers in the IT area.
In this constellation, Sana Kliniken was able to gain an IT expert who is well wired in the industry. Among other things, Kemp is also to drive the more than 100 large and small technology projects funded by the Hospital Future Act. The focus is on topics such as setting up a patient portal and digital discharge management. The patient’s path should be digitally accompanied before admission to the hospital until after discharge. Improving IT and cyber security will also fall within Kemp’s area of responsibility, as will the expansion of digital business models.
As a “country leader” at Oracle, Kemp was primarily in demand as a sales expert. When it came to customer acquisition, she scored points last year with the conclusion of an extensive deal with Deutsche Bank, which wants to modernize its database technology. Especially since the US software developer has a difficult time with many customers in the home country of competitor SAP. Under Kemp’s leadership, sales in Germany increased by three percent to 1.8 billion euros last year.
The second woman on the five-member board
At Sana, the demands on the manager, who is a passionate golfer in her free time, will be very diverse. But that is also exactly what Kemp wanted. Two things have always been important to her, she once said in an interview: “First, to position myself as broadly as possible. Secondly, women must also be allowed to make it to the top.”
At Sana Kliniken, Kemp will be the second woman on the five-member board alongside CFO Irmgard Wübbeling. The company, which recently had sales of three billion euros, is one of the major players in the industry. The owners are 25 private health insurance companies. Under the leadership of long-standing CEO Thomas Lemke, Sana Kliniken has already begun the transformation from a hospital operator to an integrated healthcare group.
The larger part of the annual profit of 67 million euros is now generated in the new business areas beyond the core area of clinics. For example, Sana supports many companies with analogue and digital health offers, including customers such as Coca-Cola, the Otto Group, Südzucker and Tchibo. In addition, the group has developed various offers for external healthcare facilities, such as a purchasing association and a medical technology service. The appointment of Kemp underscores the claim to “play a pioneering role in the healthcare sector,” says CEO Lemke.
Assistance: Christof Kerkmann
More: Empty beds, empty tills: 60 percent of the clinics are in the red