Students of the dual Bachelor's degree program Health Economics in Practice (GiP) of the HWG LU implemented a practical project in the field of controlling with one of the degree programs' long-standing cooperation partners, Bosch BKK, in the summer semester of 2025. The case study "Performance and sales controlling of new statutory services of a health insurance company" was about setting up a controlling tool to manage the newly introduced additional services of the health insurance company.
Due to the increasing cost pressure in statutory health insurance, the competition for members and insured persons between the statutory health insurance funds is intensifying. It is no longer just the amount of the contribution that counts. Rather, it is also about attractive additional benefits for certain groups of insured persons in order to successfully position oneself as a health insurance company on the market. Bosch BKK, for example, has developed new, voluntary additional benefits and launched them on January 1, 2025. These include the G-win Flex premium program for healthy behaviour, free medicines for young people, a sports medical examination and a bonus for young professionals.
This is where the Bachelor's degree course "Health Economics in Practice" (GiP) at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) under the direction of Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler and Prof. Dr. Elke Raum came into play: In order to evaluate the new additional benefits, the GiP student group of the fourth semester was asked to design a reporting tool as part of a case study with the cooperation partner Bosch BKK that presents the sales success and financial effectiveness of the new benefits in a comprehensible, clear and compact way.
The students first determined which information from which areas is relevant for this: the focus was therefore on process management, the effectiveness of the target group approach and economic efficiency. They then derived the key performance indicators (KPIs) for evaluating sales success and managing expenditure. They described these KPIs using detailed KPI profiles. This was followed by suggestions for defining threshold values and visualizing the concept using a dashboard. The analysis was based on real operational data, which the cooperation partner provided in pseudonymized form.
Finally, in June, the team presented its results and recommendations for the next steps at the health insurance company's headquarters in Stuttgart.
"The joint final meeting in Stuttgart was a great opportunity to present the project results in person and receive direct professional feedback. We were very pleased about the great appreciation of our work! The contact persons at Bosch BKK always provided us with helpful support during the project. That was very valuable," concluded the students. The appointment was particularly exciting for Lisa-Salome Strasser and Nick Marx, who are employed by Bosch BKK as part of the dual study program. "It was super challenging to present in front of the management team of the Controlling department and we are very proud that we were trusted with such a project in our fourth semester," they both emphasized. "We learn a lot together during our studies, but working together on such a complex project takes on a completely different dimension," added team member Tina Landwehr.
"Practical projects like these are an integral part of our degree programs. They make it possible to experience how application-oriented learning and academic education can be successfully interlinked," said Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler, explaining the concept behind the case studies. Prof. Dr. Elke Raum then emphasized the importance of the GiP cooperation partners' willingness to propose and support suitable projects.
Florian Wenz, who accompanied the cooperation project on behalf of Bosch BKK, was also satisfied with the joint practical project: "For us as project partners, the exchange with the students and their perspective on certain topics is always valuable. Many of the ideas from the final presentation will be taken up and incorporated into the concrete implementation of the tool," says Wenz.
Prospective students have until mid-August to apply for the dual Bachelor's degree course in Health Economics in Practice (GiP), which starts in the winter semester 2025/2026.
Further information on the GiP degree programs can be found at:www.hwg-lu.de/studium/bachelor/gesundheitsoekonomie-im-praxisverbund-dual
Contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Department of Management, Controlling, HealthCare
Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler / Prof. Dr. Elke Raum
Head of Health Economics in Practice (GiP)
Tel. 621/5203-135 or - 126
Email: eveline.haeusler@hwg-lu.de / elke.raum@hwg-lu.de
Bosch BKK
Florian Wenz
Responsible for supply controlling and analytics, pharmaceuticals (BKK/VMA1)
Tel. 0711 252918-703
Email: F lorian.Wenz@Bosch-BKK.de
www.Bosch-BKK.de
