Responsible procurement along the entire supply chain

Clear procurement principles

Our successful collaboration with our suppliers is primarily based on four central documents: the respective contractual agreement, the Helios purchasing concept, the Helios Group Transparency Policy, and the Supplier Code of Conduct. Procurement at Helios also follows three key principles:

We rely on user judgement

We have a policy of strict separation between product decisions and price negotiations. The responsible medical specialist groups or departments decide which products and services are purchased. The Helios professional procurement team with specific product and industry knowledge carries out negotiations with suppliers and contractors.

We do not host sales representatives

Since decisions about our products are made by the relevant expert medical groups, it is neither necessary nor desirable for sales representatives to make direct sales of products at our hospitals. Helios only allows central and regional procurement departments and not physicians or nursing staff to be approached for advertising and sales purposes.

We evaluate our suppliers objectively

Helios procurement teams evaluate strategically important suppliers according to standardized criteria and procedures every two years. This is also the case in 2024 for the years 2022 and 2023. The criteria for the evaluation include the process quality, the IT infrastructure, and the quality of the operational and strategic collaboration. In addition, the suppliers are assessed in respect of other environmental and social criteria as required by the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (LkSG) since 2023. The foundation for this is our established Supplier Code of Code of Conduct whose compliance with the Code has been mandatory for suppliers since 2022. If suppliers violate the Code of Conduct, Helios may impose conditions or sanctions.

You can find more information on procurement and logistics at Helios and in our Supplier Code of Conduct online.

Ethical, social, environmental, and human rights standards in our supplier relationships

We procure a wide range of different products from external suppliers for the care of our patients. Our requirements are divided into the following five categories:

• Medical supplies
• Laboratory
• Pharmacy
• Medical technology
• Non-medical supplies

In 2023, we spent approximately €1.8 billion on these categories in total. Of this, 97% was purchased from our suppliers’ German subsidiaries.

We expect our suppliers to observe our ethical, social, environmental, and human rights standards, or to comply with equivalent standards. The requirements we establish for our direct suppliers, service providers, and other partners are defined in our Supplier Code of Conduct. This comprises requirements relating to human rights and labor standards, environmental protection and animal welfare, compliance and anti-corruption. In accordance with the requirements of the Supplier Code of Conduct, suppliers must demand the defined requirements as minimum standards throughout their supply chain and along the supply chains of upstream suppliers.

Furthermore, since 2023 work has been progressing on a more comprehensive human rights and environmental clause. Since 2024, it has been gradually included in existing and future contractual agreements as a binding element. If we suspect that there have been violations of the contractual clause or are likely to be in the future, we will respond accordingly. Depending on how severe the misconduct is, we carry out additional monitoring measures such as reviews and demand additional written confirmations from suppliers.