Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel and Kumi Health Close Strategic Partnership for AI-Powered Hospital Performance 

The EvKB — Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel gGmbH — and Kumi Health GmbH are bundling their competencies: Within the framework of a strategic partnership, the Kumi Hospital Performance Platform will be introduced at the Bielefeld University Hospital as an AI-powered orchestration layer alongside the existing hospital information system (HIS) — as a new strategic tier in close connection with other leading expert systems. 

The EvKB, OWL University Hospital of Bielefeld University, Campus Bielefeld-Bethel — with 1,755 beds, around 5,700 employees, and 180,000 patients per year, one of the largest maximum care hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia — and Kumi Health GmbH have entered into a strategic partnership. EvKB will become a Kumi customer and introduce the Kumi Hospital Performance Platform as a further strategically central component of its digital transformation. At the same time, both partners are working together on the continuous development of the platform based on real-world usage experience and a systematic KPI-based evaluation. Kumi fits into the EvKB's ambitious overall digital strategy, which relies on the partnership-based orchestration of leading technology solutions in healthcare. 

Why Hospital Information Systems Alone Are No Longer Enough 

The German hospital market is experiencing a paradigm shift. Large HIS systems perform very well at what they were originally built for: documentation, patient management, and billing. However, for more and more hospital managements, it is clear that the HIS alone is reaching its limits when it comes to crucial questions: real-time data, clinical-organizational performance, complete revenue representation, length of stay and patient flow management or – perhaps the most important point – relieving the teams. Isolated individual solutions — a voice recognition tool here, an AI-generated doctor's letter there — do not provide a remedy. What hospitals need, in addition to a FHIR-based Clinical Data Repository, is an integrated AI performance layer that works in concert with the existing HIS, contextualizes data, and orchestrates clinical and operational processes along the entire patient pathway. 

This is precisely the role that Kumi is taking on at EvKB. The platform integrates via "Plug & Play" into the existing system landscape and measurably makes more out of the available infrastructure — without an HIS system change, and without years of migration projects. Kumi will soon launch in selected specialist departments of the EvKB. 

A central goal of the collaboration is the mutual harmonization and streamlining of clinical-organizational processes – also across location boundaries. Clearly defined, digital clinical pathways developed with staff members not only establish the foundation for transparent quality of care within the institution — they are also a crucial building block for the cross-sector care required by legislators in the future and closer cooperation between levels of care. 

“The HIS remains our backbone – but for real speed, we also need the intelligent layer next to it. Especially now, when KHVVG and KHAG are further tightening the requirements for quality, standardization, and efficiency with less money in the system, we need tools that deliver both simultaneously: standardized processes and measurable relief for our teams. Together with Kumi and other partners, we want to shape the future architecture of our hospital.” 

 — Thorsten Kaatze, Chairman of the Executive Board, Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel gGmbH

“Every hospital in Germany faces the same challenge: How can we meet the growing demands for quality, economic viability, and team relief? The answer does not lie in further isolated solutions, but in an integrated software layer next to the HIS that gets the best out of what is already there and opens up new creative leeway. And to work effectively, it must be anchored in the clinical pathway. This is exactly what we are establishing at the EvKB – and we will then advance together with other EvKB partner companies into further highly innovative, data-driven application areas. This partnership shows how a university hospital and maximum care facility takes the next step — as a role model for the entire industry.” 

— Dr. med. Timothy Mende, Founder & CEO, Kumi Health GmbH 

About Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel 

The EvKB is part of the OWL University Hospital of Bielefeld University and is a maximum care facility with 30 clinics, institutes, and centers. It combines top-tier university medicine, research, and teaching with a diaconal tradition spanning over 150 years. The supporting organization is the v. Bodelschwinghsche Stiftungen Bethel. Since January 2024, Thorsten Kaatze has been leading the EvKB as Chairman of the Executive Board. www.evkb.de 

About Kumi Health 

Kumi Health GmbH develops and operates the Kumi Hospital Performance Platform — an AI-powered orchestration platform that integrates seamlessly and vendor-neutrally into existing HIS infrastructures. Kumi combines evidence-based clinical pathways with intelligent management functions, enabling hospitals to get measurably more out of their existing IT landscape. www.kumihealth.de 

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