LSZ Future ConnectionsOn 30 June and 1 July 2026, the Department of Management of the University of Klagenfurt, together with the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Hospital Organisation, was represented at the LSZ Health Congress in Stegersbach. The event provided a forum for exchange between researchers and practitioners on current developments and challenges in healthcare. The congress addressed key future issues facing the Austrian healthcare system, with a particular focus on security of healthcare provision, digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI), quality, financing, and governance.
At the beginning of the congress, Guido Offermanns opened the discussion on central future challenges in healthcare provision with his keynote address, “Between Pressure for Reform and Technological Change: How Can Tomorrow’s Healthcare Be Achieved?” The keynote focused on current challenges facing the healthcare system, including demographic change, workforce shortages, rising costs, and the growing importance of digital and AI-supported applications.
This was followed by the panel talk “Who Will Govern Health Tomorrow? Healthcare Provision Between Pressure for Reform, Responsibility and Reality”, which addressed central questions of healthcare governance. The discussion featured Guido Offermanns (University of Klagenfurt und Karl Landsteiner Institute for Hospital Organisation), Karl Lehner (Managing Director Upper Austrian health holding), Thomas Mück (Deputy Director General AUVA) and Franz Öller (Managing Director Health service Burgenland). Key topics included the security of healthcare provision, the responsibilities of different stakeholders, the measurement of healthcare quality, and the role of digitalisation and AI in the further development of the healthcare system. The discussion highlighted that tomorrow’s healthcare provision will require both structural reforms and close coordination between politics, management, healthcare professionals, and academia.
In addition, the Department of Management of the University of Klagenfurt and the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Hospital Organisation contributed two workshops to the congress programme:
Guido Offermanns and Andrea Schweiger led the workshop “Implementing Strategies and Measuring Impact: The Example of Vienna University Medicine”. The workshop focused on questions relating to the successful implementation of strategic initiatives and the measurement of their effectiveness. Using a monitoring system developed for Vienna University Medicine, the workshop demonstrated how strategic objectives can be presented transparently over a reporting period of nine years and how implementation progress can be documented in a comprehensible manner. Together with the participants, the workshop explored challenges in evaluating strategic measures and in sustainably embedding strategy work in organisational development. The intensive discussion particularly underscored the importance of translating strategic objectives into the operational routines of healthcare organisations.
In the second workshop, Alexandra Kratki and Hubert Jöbstl addressed the topic “AI in Healthcare Organisations: Opportunities and Risks for Patient Safety”. Starting from the guiding question “Would you allow yourself to be diagnosed by AI?”, participants discussed current developments in the field of AI as well as its potential and challenges for healthcare provision. Particular attention was paid to issues of trust, responsibility, and the safe integration of AI-supported applications into clinical decision-making processes.
The LSZ Health Congress provided a valuable platform for exchange between academia and practice. The contributions of the University of Klagenfurt and the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Hospital Organisation attracted considerable interest and underlined the importance of evidence-based research for the further development of management, strategy, digitalisation, and innovation in healthcare.
Der Beitrag University of Klagenfurt represented with two workshops at the LSZ Health Congress 2026 erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.