Christophe Mouton

Christophe Mouton has been the CEO of AZ Maria Middelares, a general hospital in Belgium, for nine years. He has overseen numerous developments in the hospital, including a merger with the hospital in Deinze. The merged organization comprises the two general hospitals, two medical centers and a logistics center.

Maria Middelares is also part of the E17 hospital network, which consists of eight acute care hospitals.

Maria Middelares has been at the forefront of digital innovation, including the development of a proprietary patient platform. Can you tell us how this platform is revolutionizing patient care and why you believe that high-tech health care is critical for the future?

With our patient platform, we can safely telemonitor our patients, allowing us to approach them through early detection and intervene proactively. This allows us to reduce hospital admissions. By making use of our patient platform, we can also focus on care, by which I mean prevention and lifestyle medicine.

Your hospital has also pioneered a hybrid care model combining both digital and physical care. How do you envision this model transforming health care delivery in the coming years?

Last year we included integrated care and value-based health care in our strategic objectives. We aim to take responsibility for our role in the ecosystem by collaborating closely with other health care providers, stakeholders in primary care, industry partners and coordinating efforts with the government.

Incorporating patient data to emphasize preventive care is a key element in your approach. How is Maria Middelares using data to not only treat patients but also prevent illness and ensure long-term well-being?

We have been investing for several years in a medical and administrative data warehouse. Thanks to our wearables, telemonitoring and early detection, we now collect significantly more data than we used to, which has made it necessary to invest in a data lake and the cloud infrastructure.

Based on the analyses performed by our data engineers using AI and algorithms, we are able to approach our patients proactively and gain new insights that help us improve their health and well-being. With the help of wearables and sensors, we can now treat our patients in a more personalized and preventive way.

As someone who is deeply invested in patient-centered care, can you share a patient story that has moved you and demonstrates how these innovative care pathways have made a real impact?

In the COVID period, when we were first able to track patients via telemonitoring in Belgian hospitals, semi-critical patients no longer needed to be hospitalized in isolated COVID wards. Our rapid response team provided 24/7 online follow-up, and patients were only admitted when critical thresholds were reached. It was rewarding to see how, thanks to this technology and our dedicated team, we were not only able to alleviate pressure on the hospitals but also enable patients to recover in the comfort of their own familiar environment.

The design of the hospital itself is very unique with elements specifically crafted to reduce patient stress and promote healing. What inspired these design choices, and how do they enhance the patient experience?

Our new hospital was built in 2015. During its construction, we paid particular attention to creating a healing environment. We worked with an architect who had extensive experience in this area. We also considered sustainability in terms of acoustics, air conditioning and lighting.

As a leader, you place great emphasis on hiring top talent people who not only excel technically but also have very strong social and patient care skills. Why is this important and how do you ensure the hospital culture reflects those values?

We attach great importance to the mission and values of our hospital. When selecting new employees, we are very strict about ensuring that they embody these values and demonstrate empathy and kindness. When welcoming new employees, I will personally emphasize how important these values are to our hospital. They truly make a difference for patients and distinguish us from other hospitals.

The friendly attitude among colleagues is something that immediately stands out and reflects the respectful environment in which we work. As CEO, I often hear from patients that everyone in our hospitals is very friendly. We are fully committed to ensuring that patients feel safe, with good quality care.

What core values guide your leadership, and how do these values shape the hospital's culture and approach to patient care?

Those values are on the back of the badge that every employee wears to be recognized in the organization. We believe kindness and empathy are fundamental in our hospital.

Maria Middelares has recently expanded its pain center, increasing 50 percent through innovative digital pathways. What's the significance of these advancements and how do they align with your vision for compassionate, efficient health care?

That's a good example of value-based health care in our hospitals, where there is close multidisciplinary collaboration between orthopaedists, pain specialists and neurosurgeons well as internists and psychiatrists. Thanks to these care projects, we are also able to standardize our processes and ensure consistent quality of care.

By digitizing these care projects, we can, for example, reduce consultation time. In the case of our pain clinic, digitizing the pre-consultation process saves 15 minutes on what was previously a 30-minute consultation, a 50 percent time reduction.

Your hospital recently earned recognition for its sustainability efforts. What role does sustainability play in your overall strategy and how do you balance environmental goals with patient care?

We make the necessary budgets available to ultimately give sustainability an important place in our hospital. Sustainability is not in conflict with patient care. On the contrary, it can even contribute to better patient care.

Can you tell me what's a recent success story from Maria Middelares that you're especially proud of? How did your team accomplish it and what impact has it had on patients?

A recent success story from Maria Middelares that I am especially proud of is the development of our own patient platform My Hospital. This achievement is the result of the dedication and hard work of our team. The platform has a significant impact on our patients as it enables them to manage their own care process in an easy and accessible way.

Furthermore, we have been JCI accredited for almost ten years, underscoring our commitment to quality care. In addition, we have been recognized as a top employer, demonstrating that we provide a positive and supportive work environment.

Our efforts in sustainability were acknowledged with an award from the International Hospital Federation (IHF). Lastly, we were nominated for the Grand Hospital Award two years ago, which recognizes our dedication to excellence in health care.

With technology like AI becoming increasingly integrated into health care, how is Maria Middelares staying ahead of the curve? And what's the next big innovation that you're excited about?

Maria Middelares is staying ahead of the curve in terms of technological advancements in health care. We are particularly excited about further robotization, including the implementation of a robotic platform. This year, we introduced the single-port Da Vinci robot for the first time in Belgium.

We are also looking forward to the opportunities that 5G will bring us. We plan to implement 5G across all our sites by the end of 2025, which will represent a significant leap forward in the speed and efficiency of our services.

In addition, we are excited about the development of personalized treatments. Thanks to full genome analyses and CAR T-cell therapies, we can tailor our care even more specifically to the individual needs of our patients.

Looking forward, where do you see the greatest opportunities for the health care industry, particularly as it relates to patient trust and loyalty?

At Maria Middelares, we aim to build these long-term relationships through our patient platform. We want to guide and support our patients in prevention, lifestyle and early detection. And when there are medical problems, we want to provide them with the right care pathway.

Christophe Mouton is a member of the Newsweek CEO Circle, an invite-only executive community of subscribers.