The fact that hospitals are in a financial crisis has not changed at this year’s general meeting of the Bavarian Hospital Society (BKG). Last year, the chairwoman of the BKG, Tamara Bischof, described the situation with the following words: “The hut is on fire!” And she still does. BKG expects further bankruptcies and location closures in the coming year. At this year’s general meeting on Friday in Munich, Bischof warned of a “threatening wave of insolvencies”. Without short-term financial support from the federal government, hospital care would face a “fundamental question of existence.”
In Bavaria alone, the deficits would add up to around 1.4 billion euros by the end of this year, explained Bischof. Around eight out of ten hospitals received deficit compensation from their owners this year. But this support, for example from the districts and cities, cannot last indefinitely, she said.
Without quick help from Berlin, “a wave of bankruptcies threatens to roll through the hospital landscape,” warned the new Health Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU). She is calling on the federal government to set up an emergency aid program for hospitals. At the end of November, the state government, together with other federal states, launched an initiative in the Bundesrat so that the federal government would provide five billion euros for hospitals throughout Germany in the short term.
Gerlach also said on Friday that Bavaria would continue to work on the nationwide hospital reform. The Free State will make a contribution to success, “but not at any price”. There must be sufficient exception options so that the countries can react to individual problems and peculiarities.
After all, a city-state like Hamburg is different from Bavaria. The BKG chairwoman Bischof also emphasized that Bavaria’s clinics would not refuse the reform. However, the prerequisite for this is “clear, realistic and reliable rules of the game”. So far, from the BKG’s perspective, the effects of the reform plans are “completely unclear and risky”.
When she then spoke about the state government’s promised “hospital billion”, Bishop sounded more hopeful. However, the Ministry of Health does not yet have any concrete plans as to when and how much money will be paid out to the clinics. Health Minister Gerlach again expressed caution about this on Friday. You first have to wait for the negotiations on municipal financial equalization. The state only pays half of the investments in hospitals itself. The BKG is hoping for a significant increase in flat-rate funding in the coming year. This is necessary to help the clinics quickly.