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This idea is intended to make the medical profession more attractive again

When you think of coworking, you think of office workspaces.

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This idea is intended to make the medical profession more attractive again

When you think of coworking, you think of office workspaces. Chairs, tables, monitors, coffee mugs. You probably don't think of medical practices, equipped with staff and the latest technology. But that is exactly what the Berlin start-up Eterno wants to offer.

"Coworking for doctors," says Maximilian Waldmann, one of the founders. "We provide doctors with fully equipped practices." If they want to become self-employed, doctors hardly have to worry about anything.

What sounds luxurious is actually sorely needed. "The health system in Germany is in a pretty bad position," complains Waldmann in an interview with "Gründerszene". According to a study by the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research, there is currently a shortage of more than 15,000 doctors in Germany.

Moreover, medical professionals are leaving their jobs in droves due to excessive workloads. “And in parallel, we have an aging population. We are heading towards a massive problem,” warns Waldmann.

And the problems go even further: "Doctors' practices cannot always afford the latest medical equipment because it is not profitable for them." you might need.

Opening a practice is generally associated with high costs and enormous organizational effort for physicians. Many doctors depend on loans from a bank in order to be able to buy medical equipment and other equipment. You are required to hire employees. And they must manage their practice like a CEO manages a company. Waldmann sees this critically: "You don't learn that in your 12 years of overall training".

Eterno, on the other hand, wants to be the low-risk and cheaper alternative, explains Waldmann. He would like to make the medical profession more attractive again by lowering the major hurdles when opening your own practice, channeling administrative work and promising relief for those tasks that keep doctors away from their patients - and often simply make them unhappy.

And this is how Waldmann goes about it: His company Eterno buys up former office or shop space and converts it into medical practices with modern medical technology. About 15 doctors and people in the health professions should be able to practice at each location, from general practitioners to dentists and physiotherapists.

The Berlin-based company would have to invest four to five million euros in the conversion of each location. The first doctors moved into Eterno practices at the end of last year, in Hamburg.

There, the Berlin start-up takes care of tasks that arise in everyday practice, such as providing consumables such as cannulas, maintaining the medical devices and cleaning work.

Eterno also provides software and also takes care of the staff, i.e. it hires medical assistants. And where tasks can be centralized, the start-up does it too. For example when making an appointment. This, for example, is handled by a call center, not by the practice itself. The idea behind it: less telephone ringing in practices ensures more relaxed employees and patients.

According to Waldmann, the triad of inviting space, comprehensive service and modern software costs physicians around 5,000 euros per month. The Berlin company does not earn money from the treatments provided by the doctors.

Waldmann's parents and siblings are all doctors. "I grew up hearing stories from doctors' practices at the dinner table," says Waldmann, now the father of two and a multiple founder.

He sold his second and third start-up to the hotel portal HRS a few years ago. With Conichi he sold check-in solutions for hotels, and with Invisible Pay he made paying easier. The entrepreneur is now using part of the proceeds from the exit to finance his next start-up: Eterno.

He founded the company together with Frederic Haitz. The two have known each other for a long time and also participate in other companies as business angels. Among other things, both invested in the therapy start-up Selfapy and in Miles, which was later taken over by the VW subsidiary Weshare.

For the coming year, the founding duo plans to open further Eterno locations in cities such as Berlin and Munich. At the same time, politicians are debating medical care centers that are financed by investors.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is planning to introduce a controversial law that would prohibit investors from buying up medical practices. "I put a stop to investors buying up medical practices with absolute greed for profit," the SPD politician recently told Bild am Sonntag.

Waldmann is not worried about the statements. Since Eterno is not involved as an investor in the practices, the law has no relevance to its business. Eterno only promotes the independence of doctors: "What Karl Lauterbach demands is in principle what we offer," says Waldmann.

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