Which clinic is particularly good at which procedure? A new online register will clarify this from May. After a dispute, there was now an agreement in the mediation committee. Health Minister Lauterbach also promised clinics more money.
An agreement has been reached in the dispute over greater transparency in clinic treatments. In the mediation committee, representatives of the Bundestag and Bundesrat agreed on the new regulation. “Patients finally find out where they can best be treated,” explained Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD).
The Federal Council initially stopped the transparency law passed by the Bundestag in November.
Overview of clinic services
The aim is to create an online atlas that gives patients information about 1,700 clinic locations nationwide. It should be clear in the “transparency directory” which hospital offers which services. Data on treatment experience, the staffing ratio of doctors and nurses as well as complication rates for selected procedures should also be available.
“The mortality differences are sometimes 100 percent,” he said in November. The atlas will therefore also document information about unsuccessful treatments for certain procedures for each individual hospital and which clinics carry out certain treatments particularly frequently and are well equipped to do so.
The Federal Council could now finally approve the law on March 22nd. According to Lauterbach’s earlier statement, the online register could then be available from May 1st.
Clinics should Billions in aid receive
In addition to the “transparency directory”, the mediation committee agreed on a “transformation fund”, for which 50 billion euros are planned for ten years from 2025. The federal and state governments should share the sum equally. According to Lauterbauch, this prevents “a wave of insolvencies” among the clinics. It is intended to accompany a major reform with new regulations on hospital remuneration, which the federal and state governments have been negotiating for months.
The plan is to change the remuneration system with flat rates for treatment cases in order to relieve clinics from the financial pressure of increasing the number of cases. In the future, they should receive 60 percent of their remuneration simply for providing services. The basis for financing by the health insurance companies should also be more precisely defined service groups. They should also ensure uniform quality standards.