The 5th Hybrid Forum for Innovating Healthcare Management concluded with great success on Monday, 2 November 2026, at the Divani Caravel Hotel in Athens. The Forum, titled "The Hospital in Transition – Challenges and Prospects in Modern Management", was co-organised by the Hellenic Society for Health Services Management (EEDYY) and CMT Prooptiki. It focused on what the modern hospital needs in order to transform: moving from managing individual organisations to coordinated, effective and people-centred systems of care.
About 360 people attended in person, and the online broadcast peaked at 237 concurrent viewers, with an average viewing time of about 4.5 hours.
Welcome addresses were delivered by Apostolos Letsios (President, EEDYY), Prof. Giorgos Pierrakos (University of West Attica) and Giorgos Charalambous (President, EKAB). In her message, Deputy Minister of Health Irene Agapidaki stressed that digital transformation is a tool, not an end in itself, and that a strong National Health System needs strong Primary Health Care, better links between services and investment in prevention.
Digital Transformation and Data-Driven Management
Moderated by Michalis Papadakis (Onassis Hospital), the first session featured Giorgos Dafoulas (Ministry of Digital Governance and AI), Nikos Iosif (BRAINS Innovative Consulting Services) and Dr Giorgos Gourzoulidis (Health Through Evidence). Speakers covered Recovery Fund investments, the European Health Data Space, Real-World Data and the conditions for safe use of AI. The key message: digital investments create value only when data becomes usable information, and information becomes evidence-based decisions. As one speaker put it, "the patient's information must travel together with the patient."
Quality, Safety and Modern Hospital Management
Moderated by Nektarios Papavasileiou (7th Health Region of Crete), the second session featured Prof. Daphne Kaitelidou (NKUA), Dr Christos Triantafyllou (WHO) and Artemis Markatou (CMT Prooptiki) presenting the Health-IQ project, Assist. Prof. Olga Siskou (University of Piraeus), Dr Rania Pinaka (TOMY Ampelokipoi, Larissa) and Dr Pantelis Messaropoulos (KETEKNY). The session showed that quality, safety, efficiency and patient experience are interdependent, and that reliable indicators, coordinated referrals, strong primary care and DRGs are key tools for modern hospital management.
Transformation in Practice: From Planning to Sustainable Implementation
Moderated by Prof. Nikos Polyzos (Democritus University of Thrace), the third session presented Romania's experience with 25 hospital quality indicators and a national quality culture, by Giorgos Angelopoulos (WHO Athens Office) and Dr Grațiela-Denisa Iordache (Romanian National Authority for Quality Management in Health). In the keynote address, Dr Eleftherios Thireos (ODIPY) presented the new framework for evaluating hospital quality in Greece.
Round Table: New Models of Care Organisation and Delivery
Olga Balaoura (Governor, 1st Health Region), Prof. Kyriaki Mystakidou (NKUA), Paraskevi Michalopoulou ("Alma Zois"), Dr Dimitris Kounalakis and Anastasios Samouilidis (Greek Patients' Association) discussed how new models of care can work in practice. Topics included palliative care, the network of Comprehensive Breast Centres in seven public hospitals, relieving Emergency Departments, and the role of the personal doctor and patient associations in guiding patients. Participants called for care networks in every health region, quality built into every level of care, and political support for reforms.
Round Table: The Hospital of Tomorrow – Towards a Sustainable Health
System
The Forum closed with a high-level Round Table moderated by journalist Dimitris Takis, following a welcome by Giorgos Braoudakis, Founder and CEO of CMT Prooptiki. Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis, MP Ioannis Tsimaris (PASOK–Movement for Change), Spyros Dritsas (EL.A.S.), and Giorgos Kalamitsis and Dimitris Athanasiou of the Greek Patients' Association discussed nursing staff, funding, Primary Health Care as the gateway to the system, digital maturity and quality evaluation. Patient representatives called for real, not formal, patient participation. Despite differing views on priorities, participants agreed on the need for evidence-based, long-term dialogue on health policy. Change management was flagged as a possible theme for the next Forum.
Key Conclusions
• From individual organisations to integrated care systems
• Technology and data as management tools, not ends in themselves
• Quality, safety and efficiency as linked objectives
• Leadership and the workforce at the heart of change
• The social dimension and sustainability of reforms
• From knowledge to implementation and measurable results
The central message of the 5th Forum: moving towards the hospital of tomorrow requires an approach in which technology, evidence, effective management, quality and the social dimension of health work together.
The Forum was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, the Department of Nursing of NKUA, the University of West Attica, EKAB, ODIPY, the Athens Medical Society, SEIV and EOPYY, with the scientific support of the Hellenic DRG Institute (KETEKNY). Gold Sponsor: MSD. Sponsor: BRAINS Innovative Consulting Services.
We warmly thank all moderators, speakers, sponsors and participants who made the 5th Forum a success.
Videos, photos and presentations: www.healthcare-management.gr
