Status: 09.08.2023 5:33 p.m
Patients who do not show up despite having booked an appointment cause problems for medical practices. Would then “as a penalty” be a default fee right? We talked about this on August 9, 2023 in the NDR Info video live stream. A recording will be available shortly on this page.
According to a survey by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), seven out of ten practices complain about so-called no-shows. “The appointments are blocked and are then not available for other patients,” complained the CEO of the KBV, Andreas Gassen, in the “Osnabrücker Zeitung”. He called for a cancellation fee that would have to be paid by the health insurance companies if the insured missed a booked appointment.
Patient advocates call it a “rip-off”
Such a fee would be “rip-off” from the point of view of the board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch. The real problem is the “lack of availability” of panel doctors for the patients. With its online survey, the KBV wants to justify its “cheeky demands”. In any case, many practices are already charging penalties for missed appointments. For example, it has long been common in physiotherapy practices and psychotherapy appointments that the patient has to pay for the absence if he/she does not cancel in time.
Hours of waiting on the phone
The statutory health insurance (GKV) also rejects Gassen’s proposal and points out that there are sometimes queues on the phone that can last for hours and that appointments cannot be canceled because you can’t get through. They even demand compensation for patients who would wait a long time in waiting rooms and telephone hotlines.
Compensation for practices? Uncertain legal position
The chairman of the board of the Bremen Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV), Bernhard Rochell, had already spoken out in May for a “no-show fee”, i.e. patients who let their appointment pass without deregistering, for damaged practices or clinics. The KV Lower Saxony, however, pointed out that the legal situation was not clear. According to current case law, medical practices are only entitled to compensation if they can prove that they have lost earnings, said spokesman Detlef Haffke. However, it is often not easy to provide this proof in individual cases. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has already rejected such a fee.
Long waiting time for a doctor’s appointment leads to “double bookings”
According to Haffke, the reason why patients do not appear at the doctor’s is because they make appointments with several doctors in the same specialty and then attend the earliest one without canceling the others. “This appears to be a response to increasingly long wait times for a doctor’s appointment.”
Emergency admissions: fee for minor cases?
From the point of view of patient advocate Brysch, the often poor accessibility of panel doctors also means that sick people seek help in the emergency rooms. But that leads to an overload there. If parents with trivial cases such as “a pimple on the children’s buttocks” were to turn up there, the President of the Professional Association of Pediatricians Thomas Fischbach would also advocate an emergency fee there. This should then even be collected directly from the parents.
Possible penalties for missed doctor’s appointments, long waiting times and poor compatibility with the daily work of patients, too few staff – a vicious circle? That was the topic on August 9, 2023 at NDR Info Live.
NDR Info moderator Isabelle Vidos welcomed as guests:
Dirk Heinrich
President of the Professional Association of ENT Doctors
Alfred Bornhalm
Social association Schleswig-Holstein
More information about the show
