One of Karl Lauterbach’s outstanding characteristics is his constant willingness to create opponents. Hospitals and health insurance companies, nursing associations and pharmaceutical lobbyists – the Federal Health Minister from the SPD has already taken on all of them, and Lauterbach makes no exceptions. This week it is the pharmacists with whom he is skirmishing.
They have been dissatisfied with the minister for a long time, the advances regarding e-prescriptions and the management of medication delivery bottlenecks have caused rumblings in the industry – and the matter of remuneration. The pharmacists find the money they receive per pack of medication dispensed far too little. The demand is that it would have to be 2.7 billion euros more per year. To express their anger, they invited people to “Pharmacists’ Day” on Wednesday, an industry meeting at the Congress Center in Düsseldorf.
“We don’t know exactly what they want in Berlin.”
Even before it could start, the Federal Minister of Health had already started Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung talked about his plans with the pharmacies. The most important point: In the future, it should be possible to open pharmacy branches in which a licensed pharmacist no longer has to be present. Instead, there could be pharmaceutical technical assistants in the branches who are connected to a pharmacist at the main pharmacy via “telepharmacy”, for example via video. There would not have to be any laboratories in these branches, and night and emergency services would not have to be provided. Corresponding changes to the law should be introduced to the Bundestag before the end of the year, said Lauterbach.
The president of the Abda pharmacists’ association, Gabriele Overwiening, was outraged that something like this had to be found out “from the press”. “Nobody talked to us about it. Nobody talked to us about it,” said Overwiening in her speech at the Pharmacists’ Day. She called the plans “completely crazy.” The impact on the quality of care would be devastating. “We know what we want. We just don’t know exactly what they want in Berlin,” said Overwienig to a noticeably heated audience. You feel “degraded”. Overwiening announced that the minister would be “taken to task” – she received cheers and applause. Many people in the room wore vests that read: “Strengthen pharmacies. Now.”
There is great displeasure: passers-by walk past signs for a pharmacy.
(Photo: picture alliance / dpa / Jan Woitas)
They didn’t have to wait long for the confrontation; the Federal Minister of Health was connected live via video connection immediately afterwards. Lauterbach said he would have liked to come to Düsseldorf in person, but unfortunately the cabinet meeting and budget negotiations would have prevented that. Lauterbach said he regretted that; given the mood in the room, it would definitely have been “an experience.”
His remarks afterwards were repeatedly interrupted by unrest from the audience. Lauterbach’s interpretation that these new branches are actually an opportunity for the established pharmacies to assert themselves against the mail order business did not win hearts, at least this afternoon.
Then it was about money: a question from the audience asked whether he really thought that the pharmacies earned enough. Lauterbach said he already knew that profits had fallen recently, but a pharmacy would generate an average of 166,000 euros – net profit, i.e. after deducting all costs. Lauterbach said he also knows that there are big differences between pharmacies. We will talk about the compensation models. Furthermore, he doesn’t want to give the impression that he doesn’t appreciate the work of the industry. He is “personally grateful for everything you do every day.” At the end of his speech there were boos and whistles.
The talks will continue in Berlin in two weeks. She hopes, says Overwiening at the end to Lauterbach, “that you will also be present.”