As of: January 23, 2024, 5:27 a.m
By: Karolin Schäfer
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Hospital staff are working to the limit, emergency rooms are full: Karl Lauterbach wants to reform emergency care.
But what does that mean specifically?
Munich - Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to end hours of waiting in the emergency room and give telemedicine greater importance.
This should not only save money, but also improve medical care in Germany.
The SPD politician is planning a comprehensive hospital reform.
Karl Lauterbach's hospital reform: This is what care in emergency centers should look like
Emergency care in particular should change.
In the future, there will be Integrated Emergency Centers (INZ) at hospitals – one for every 400,000 inhabitants.
This should include an outpatient emergency service practice.
Decisions about where patients with acute complaints are to be treated should be made at a shared counter.
The aim is to ensure that patients are treated in the emergency room of a hospital less often.
According to a model calculation by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, around 730 integrated emergency centers are needed nationwide.
According to Lauterbach's key points, emergency centers for children and young people are also planned.
In the emergency centers, patients should also have the opportunity to receive appointments for further treatment.
There are also plans to distribute medicines that are needed at short notice.
Anyone who has acute symptoms in the future will have to go to an emergency center.
The next step will then be decided there.
Lauterbach plan to reform emergency care: emergency numbers should be networked
At the same time, the appointment service points of the statutory health insurance associations are to be expanded and networked with emergency call control centers.
In the future it should not matter whether you dial 116, 117 or 112.
Emergency patients should also be able to have an ambulance sent to them via the statutory health insurance associations and would not have to call the emergency number again separately.
On the other hand, a call to 112 should also result in a visit to a doctor's office.
Karl Lauterbach's Ministry of Health is planning an extensive reform of emergency care.
© Patrick Pleul/dpa
Expansion of telemedicine: Lauterbach's reform of emergency care is coming
Lauterbach also wants to expand telemedicine with his hospital reform.
Only recently did e-prescriptions replace paper prescriptions.
If doctors do not consider a visit to the practice or clinic by telephone or video to be necessary, such a prescription or an electronic sick note can be issued.
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The big advantage: Sick people don't have to leave the house and drag themselves into a crowded waiting room to be treated.
It should also be possible to issue a sick note in emergency centers or during home visits.
This means that patients do not have to go to the family doctor's office again after treatment in an emergency service practice.
However, it will still take some time before the reform is initiated.
The changes should apply from the beginning of 2025.
(kas/dpa)