Status: 09.11.2022 07:33
Outpatient operations are to be remunerated differently in the future so that the number of hospital stays decreases. An overnight stay is not necessarily part of good medicine, said Health Minister Lauterbach.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wants to pay for outpatient operations differently in the future and thus reduce the number of unnecessary hospital stays.
“We want to spare patients the hospital stays and at the same time relieve the staff there,” Lauterbach told the “Rheinische Post” about plans for a comprehensive hospital reform.
Federal Minister of Health Lauterbach wants to reform the remuneration for outpatient operations.
Image: REUTERS
Too many hospital stays in Germany
“To do this, we are converting the system in such a way that unnecessary hospital admissions for simple procedures will no longer be worthwhile in the future,” said the Federal Minister. “The proportion of inpatient treatments is still far too high in our international comparison.” This must change in the interests of hospital staff and patients.
An overnight stay is not necessarily good
Many treatments that were previously done on an inpatient basis should be performed on an outpatient basis in the future. And even for inpatients, the overnight stay is not necessary if the patient wishes it and there is nothing medically opposed to it, said the minister. “It relieves care and doctors. Overnight stays in the hospital are not necessarily part of good medicine,” said Lauterbach.