The Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVB) will continue to have a general practitioner at its head in the future. The association’s assembly of representatives on Saturday in Munich elected general practitioner Christian Pfeiffer as chairman of the board by a large majority. The 55-year-old family doctor from Giebelstadt in the Würzburg district announced that he wanted to work to ensure that work in practices remained attractive. More needs to be done to prevent a doctor shortage.
The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians is responsible for the care of those with statutory health insurance. She negotiates with the health insurance companies, for example, about doctors’ fees and drug budgets. She checks the accounts of the resident doctors and psychotherapists and distributes the available fee.
It is particularly important to curb the increasing bureaucracy in practices, says Pfeiffer. Digitization in the healthcare system must be further developed in such a way that it actually improves care. When it came to payment, Pfeiffer called for more appreciation for the work of the doctors. “We have to fight for that,” he said. In addition, the KV tip sees a problem in the fact that more and more medical care centers (MVZ) are being taken over by financial investors. It must be prevented that more and more of these centers, especially in the specialist medical field, come into the hands of large companies that are trying to achieve maximum returns. Countermeasures announced by the federal government are “long overdue”.
Pfeiffer replaces the family doctor Wolfgang Krombholz, who had not stood for election after twelve years in office. The ophthalmologist Peter Heinz from Schlüsselfeld in the district of Bamberg and the Munich psychosomatic specialist Claudia Ritter-Rupp were elected to the other two board positions.