The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians is demanding that patients be fined if they miss an appointment without an excuse. Some practices are apparently already charging cancellation fees. Health Minister Lauterbach rejects this.
In view of the strained financial situation of many medical practices, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) is in favor of fines if patients fail to appear for doctor’s appointments without an excuse. The health insurance companies should cover such a fine, demanded KBV chairman Andreas Gassen in the Bild newspaper.
“It is not only annoying when patients book appointments in practices and then simply let them pass,” emphasised the head of the association. “Practices cannot make appointments twice.” Therefore, “a cancellation fee to be paid by the health insurance companies” is appropriate “if their insured persons make appointments and then do not show up without an excuse”.
According to the newspaper, there are now some doctors’ offices that charge patients a 40 euro fine for unexcused absences. In individual cases, the fine can even be as high as 100 euros for repeated absences.
Lauterbach: “Fines are the wrong way”
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) rejects fines for missed appointments in doctor’s offices. “The doctors are right, missed appointments must be the exception for medical reasons. But fines are the wrong approach,” the minister commented on the proposal.
Lauterbach appealed to patients: “Don’t miss any appointments without informing the doctor sufficiently early.” The practices are overcrowded, especially for general practitioners, “because the fee system is so bureaucratic and there are budgets.”
The board member of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, called the KBV chairman’s proposal a “rip-off”. He advised the KBV to first clean up its own backyard. There is no systematic review of the hours the contracted practices are open. “After all, the lack of accessibility for patients is the biggest problem,” said Brysch. This mass phenomenon is partly responsible for the fact that sick people often seek help in the emergency rooms.