Healthcare
Warnings about cutting corners in hospital reform
Today, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach plans to discuss the planned realignment of hospitals in Germany with the state department heads again. photo
© Marcus Brandt/dpa
For months there has been a tough struggle for innovations for the network of clinics – in terms of financing and requirements for treatment quality. Is the project making further progress?
In the struggle for the In hospital reform, warnings about compromises in terms of treatment quality and greater specialization are becoming louder.
The head of the Barmer health insurance company, Christoph Straub, warned against renewed federal-state consultations, saying there is a risk that what remains of the widely announced reform is purely a financial reform. “This threatens to bring enormous costs to the system and those with statutory health insurance, without the urgently needed quality and structural changes actually being tackled.” The Techniker Krankenkasse and the co-governing FDP also campaigned for the planned fundamental changes to be implemented in the clinic network.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wanted to talk to his colleagues from the federal states at a meeting in Berlin about a bill that has now been submitted. The reform plans aim to change the remuneration with flat rates for treatment cases in order to relieve clinics from the financial pressure of having to treat more and more patients. In the future, they should receive 60 percent of the remuneration just for holding offers. The basis for financing by the health insurance companies should be more precisely defined service groups. They should contain uniform quality specifications.
TK boss: Reform is approaching tipping point
The head of the Techniker Krankenkasse, Jens Baas, criticized that the reform was increasingly approaching a tipping point where no reform would be the lesser evil. “The original goal of creating more quality across the board through a sensible division of labor between the clinics is increasingly being pushed into the background.” Instead, there would be more and more cost traps for contributors. The reform is a historic opportunity to bring outdated structures into shape. Politics must not waste this opportunity now.
The FDP’s health policy spokesman in the Bundestag, Andrew Ullmann, said: “The care of patients can only be sustainably improved by changing the structures. We will not support an agreement on de-economized financing with the same structures.” The states must clearly commit to the fact that the number of inpatient beds must be reduced. Oversupply and undersupply in the regions must be eliminated.
Bavaria demands options for states to deviate
Bavaria’s Health Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU) told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” that the states still see an urgent need for change in many areas. “I expect Lauterbach to take the concerns and needs of the states seriously.” Among other things, Bavaria is committed to ensuring that the states are given the opportunity to deviate from the nationwide structural requirements in order to be able to guarantee security of supply, said Gerlach. “With the current rigid requirements and the planned time limits, the hospital planning competence of the states is massively impaired.”
The federal-state group has met several times in recent months for difficult discussions. There are various criticisms of the legislative plans among the states, but Lauterbach has no longer designed them in such a way that they require approval in the Federal Council. The minister had stated that the aim was for the Federal Cabinet to deal with the plans in the coming week. The states and the clinics are also demanding rapid additional financial aid before the planned major reform.