Municipalities have doubts about clinic reform and are demanding faster help

So far, the federal states have not wanted to agree to Health Minister Lauterbach’s clinic reform. The municipalities now appealed to the federal and state governments to come to an agreement. The aid for hospitals in need depends on this.

The municipalities see the existence of numerous hospitals in Germany at risk. At a meeting with Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) in Berlin, they called for higher and faster billions in aid than planned by the federal government.

“The reform plans are probably coming too late for the houses that are in need,” said the President of the Association of Cities and Municipalities, Uwe Brandl. “We believe there needs to be fresh money in the system.” District council president Reinhard Sager called for immediate aid to improve the clinics’ liquidity.

Block countries Hospital Transparency Act

The municipalities also appealed to the states to give up their blockade on the Hospital Transparency Act. The draft law had already been passed by the Bundestag in October – but was thwarted by the Bundesrat at the end of November. The state chamber referred the draft to the mediation committee of the Bundesrat and Bundestag for further revision.

The law is tied to quick liquidity aid for hospitals that are complaining about financial bottlenecks due to inflation and rising personnel costs. The money is also intended to bridge the transition to the planned major hospital reform.

Lauterbach: Without the law, many clinics would be at risk of bankruptcy

Lauterbach used the meeting to increase the pressure on the federal states. “Delaying the urgently needed hospital reforms is particularly at the expense of cities and municipalities. They are responsible for many clinics and have to be responsible for deficits,” he said. Without the law, more than 100 hospitals are at risk of bankruptcy in 2024. The Transparency Act must therefore be passed in the Federal Council on February 2nd. This means that hospitals nationwide could receive a liquidity injection of six billion euros.

The Federal Ministry of Health wants to achieve sustainable change in the hospital landscape through several laws. The Hospital Transparency Act is intended to ensure that patients will in future be better informed about the services and quality deficiencies of hospitals via the Internet.

For example, the number of cases of health services offered, the number of doctors and nursing staff or the rate of complications from certain procedures should be mentioned. The assignment of the individual hospital locations to care levels should also be specified. This is the central point of contention between the federal and state governments. Lauterbach is also planning a reform of emergency care and a reform of the rescue service.