Oversupply in Germany?
The head of the Federal Joint Committee criticizes the high number of hospitals.
The clinics would have to divide up the work more wisely.
Berlin - Germany has too many hospitals in the opinion of the head of self-administration in the German health system, Josef Hecken.
"We currently have 1900 hospitals, 1200 would be enough," said the chairman of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung".
The federal committee is made up of representatives from doctors, clinics and statutory health insurance companies.
It is the highest decision-making body of the joint self-administration in the German health system and decides, for example, which services are covered by the statutory health insurance companies.
In the future, the clinics would have to divide up the work more intelligently, demanded Hecken.
Smaller rural hospitals should limit themselves to simple interventions, while sophisticated operations should only be performed in specialized centers.
“That would be good for the economy and for the medical quality.” In order to curb the expected further increase in hospital costs, a comprehensive structural reform is necessary.
In the summer of 2019, the Bertelsmann Foundation caused a stir with a study on hospital density in Germany. It proposed reducing the number of clinics to below 600. Bundling doctors and nursing staff as well as equipment in fewer hospitals would lead to a higher quality of care, the authors had argued. Medical representatives and clinics had reacted with massive criticism.
The health insurance companies also see a need for reform in the clinics. The necessary rural hospitals need to be secured, more specialization for particularly difficult cases and, overall, significantly better conditions for bedside care, said Florian Lanz, spokesman for the umbrella association of health insurers, on Saturday for the German press agency. "For the good care of the population, especially in metropolitan areas, it makes sense to concentrate on the clinics that are really necessary," he added. dpa