Zoom On: Mr Nikolaus Koller - President of the Editorial Board, (E)Hospital

Mr Nikolaus Koller, MAS, MBA, who graduated in Hospital Business Administration, is the Hospital Manager of the State Hospital of Bruck/Mur and President, Federal Conference of the Austrian Hospital Managers, and a member of the EAHM Executive Committee.

In 2012 the coordination of the Health Care System of Styria was split into three separate regions. The following year Styria was further divided into four regions with four different regional coordinators. Mr Koller is presently the coordinator for the Northern Styrian Region, the biggest of the four regions, with three nursing homes for old people and six hospitals serving more than 400,000 inhabitants.

Interested in getting to know Mr. Niklaus Koller better, we asked him seven questions.

1. What are your key areas of interest and research?

 My important areas are financial planning, quality management and communication in all fields.

 

2. What are the major challenges in your field?

The collaboration between the internal treatments and organisations (hospitals) and the treatments of external organisations (especially in terms of an ageing society).  Also a major challenge is the problem with the working time directive from the European Union for the physicians. In general we have to reduce the acute hospital beds and have to do more outside of the hospitals (health centres, day care treatments, etc.).

3. What is your top management tip?

The most important things are:

4. What would you single out as a career highlight?

 Personally: President of the Regional and National Hospital Managers for more than ten years. Also the functions at the European Association of Hospital Managers (EAHM) and the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE), and finally I'm a member of the International Hospital Federation (IHF) Board.

 

For the organisation: We got some quality awards like EFQM and HPH and certifications for environmental management.

 

5. If you had not chosen this career path you would have become a?

 Maybe I would be in a different profession as a CEO in bank management.

 

6. What are your personal interests outside of work?

 All kinds of sports; I like reading, travelling and spending my free time with my family.

 

7. Your favourite quote?

 Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.  Anyone who keeps learning stays young. (Henry Ford) and Nothing stays, if nothing changes!

Mr Koller is concurrently Chairman of the Association of the Styrian Hospital Directors and President of the Association of Hospital Managers of Austria. He also serves as Governor of the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE). 

In 2004 Mr Koller was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Austria Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (ONGKG). He is also a member of various associations, including the Rotary Club of Bruck/Mur, the Economic Forum of Managers (WDF), the Management Club Austria and the Carrier Who's Who.

Mr. Koller's works have been published in various journals such as Medial Tribune, ÷KZ (Austrian Journal for Health Professions) and the ONGKG. He is the President of the Editorial Board of the Hospital Magazine (E)Hospital.