The choice of the legal form "public law foundation" for the Heart Institute presented it with a structure which was new for a medical institution established by the state, and some traditionalists were scathing, calling it a "privatized" institution and "a private clinic".

I am still moved when I recall – not without a touch of bitterness – the parents of a child with heart disease from the town of Görlitz telling me nervously that they could not afford to pay for treatment in an expensive private clinic. What they did not know was that the health insurance was obliged to pay for this treatment, just as in any other regular hospital. And what is more, the Heart Institute has accepted hundreds of seriously ill children from all over the world, without knowing how their treatment would be financed. Cases such as these have been paid for, if at all, by the institute itself raising donations from private sources or charitable organizations.

Conversely, the Heart Institute has in actual fact attempted to ensure modern and friendly care and service for its patients right from the start, taking the hotel sector as an example, an approach which was only to be found in private clinics such as already existed in the USA or Switzerland at the time. We tried to model ourselves on these.

Over time the foundation concept started to attract increasing interest throughout Germany. Nowadays, more and more local councils and regional states are attempting to release hospitals from government control and turn them into independent companies acting on their own responsibility. On the one hand a public trust foundation possesses entrepreneurial freedom within the limitations of the foundation’s declared purpose, but on the other it is not burdened by the obligation to pay back investments, as is the case with the new privately-financed clinics found particularly in the new German states. Surpluses earned by the Heart Institute always flow back to the foundation for its non-profit purposes. For this reason, I personally consider the legal form of "foundation" to be an ideal solution for an institution such as the GHI and other scientific and health care facilities.

The composition of the board of trustees also serves a concept of maintaining stability and accountability. Following its extension in 1997, the board now comprises five "standing" members appointed on the basis of their official function – the Senator for Health, the Senator for Science and Culture, the presidents of the Free University and the Humboldt University as well as the town councillor for health matters of the borough of "Mitte", – and eleven co-opted members, all of whom are leading figures from the economic and medical sectors.

This constellation ensures a high degree of modern management expertise and stability to counteract changes in politics and society. Under the presidency of Albrecht Hasinger, Prof. Dr. Horst Bourmer and Hubertus Moser, the GHI’s board of trustees has given reliable support over the years and has also been an important source of advice for the management board.

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