Health
Hospitals are demanding urgent financial injections
“The clinics are currently missing 500 million euros every month,” says the head of the German Hospital Association, Gerald Gaß. photo
© Stefan Sauer/dpa
Many clinics in Germany are struggling with high cost pressure. The industry has been pushing for more money for a long time – and is warning that the situation will worsen.
The clinics are urging Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) to quickly provide additional measures Financial injections to avert further bankruptcies and cuts in supply. The head of the German Hospital Association, Gerald Gaß, said on Thursday in Berlin: “The clinics are currently missing 500 million euros every month.” Last year there were bankruptcies at 40 locations. With six bankruptcies in January, it appears that the negative record of the previous year will be broken in 2024. Almost all hospital operators are currently forced to implement tough cost-cutting measures.
Gaß emphasized that the clinics have been in economic difficulties for two years like never before, but that politicians have fallen on deaf ears. “With severe inflation as a result of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, they have to spend more money than they make.” Specifically, with a view to a legislative vote in the Federal Council on March 22nd, the industry is calling for, among other things, an increase in the calculation basis for clinic remuneration. According to a survey, the clinics’ cost-cutting measures include staff reductions, hiring freezes and the closure of locations and wards.
The head of the association explained that a campaign with posters in clinics was planned to address the financing problems. Lauterbach had criticized a “personal, dubious smear campaign” on Platform Gaß said that Lauterbach had made internal drafts public in his post. There are several versions of this. It has not yet been decided which ones may be used after March 22nd. Gaß rejected Lauterbach’s criticism that “we are being put in a corner with the AfD argument.” This is the minister’s attempt to discredit a well-founded critic of his policies and place him outside the political discussion.