20 years after the privatization of the Stadtklinik Bad Tölz: "It was the best decision"

Created: 05/24/2022, 06:30

By: Andreas Steppan

20 years after the privatization of the former municipal hospital, city treasurer Hermann Forster, mayor Ingo Mehner and clinic manager Felix Rauschek (from left) drew a positive balance.

© Arndt Pröhl

Even if there are often reservations about privatizations in the healthcare sector: With the decision to place the city clinic in the hands of Asklepios, the city appears to be in good spirits.

Bad Tölz

– The subject of privatization in the healthcare sector often arouses skepticism and criticism.

From the point of view of the city of Bad Tölz, however, the step taken 20 years ago when the city clinic was handed over to the Asklepios Group has paid off.

This was made clear on Monday by Mayor Ingo Mehner, City Treasurer Hermann Forster and Clinic Director Felix Rauschek in a press conference on the occasion of the anniversary.

"Without privatization, we would not have the same quality of medical care in Tölz as we have today," said Mehner.

Closure of obstetrics in 2017 is a sore point

"I don't want to make a fundamental plea for privatization," said Mehner.

But when asked what he said about critical voices, for whom healthcare generally belongs in municipal hands, Mehner replied: "If you seal off markets and take them out of competition, the quality doesn't improve." That also applies to healthcare, in which the competition also provides incentives and impetus.

In this respect, he is “happy” about the decision made at the time, not only for cost reasons, but also because of the quality of care.

Both Mehner and Rauschek pointed out that not every development over the past 20 years had been positive and mentioned the sore point of the closure of obstetrics in 2017. Mehner argued, however, that the Wolfratshausen district clinic, which is under municipal sponsorship, had to find out at about the same time that the on-site obstetrics could not be continued in the previous form.

“Best decision the city council has ever made”

Hermann Forster was announced with a wink as a "contemporary witness".

Today's city treasurer accompanied the process of privatization in the city hall at the time.

"The decision required a great deal of courage on the part of the city council and the people involved," he said.

"Because there was no blueprint." Looking back, he rates the transfer of ownership as "the best decision the city council has ever made."

Especially as treasurer, he was "really glad that it happened like this," he said, with a view to the high deficits that the city had to bear up to then.

Today, the Tölzer Clinic causes neither the city nor the district costs, stressed Rauschek.

According to Mehner, initial fears that the private company could ruin the clinic had not been confirmed.

Minimum investments were contractually stipulated at the time of handover, which are controlled by a municipal hospital advisory board.

The target was always “far exceeded”.

Asklepios has invested millions of euros in the Bad Tölz city clinic

Rauschek calculated that a total of 94.6 million euros had flowed into the hospital since 2002, including 67.1 million euros for investments and 27.5 million for maintenance.

Asklepios raised 50.4 million euros, and the Free State contributed 16.7 million euros in subsidies.

"We as a city would not have been able to handle these investments," says Mehner.

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Rauschek presented the growth of the clinic since 2002. The number of employees has increased from 491 to 827 today.

Today, at twelve, the breadth of disciplines is significantly greater.

The clinic is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, such as the recently purchased surgical robot “da Vinci X” for 1.6 million euros alone.

70 percent of the patients come from the district

The focus is on the basic supply of the region.

Rauschek described Bad Tölz, Lenggries and Jachenau as the “core catchment area”.

Around 70 percent of the approximately 28,000 patients treated each year come from the district.

Three quarters of the people admitted to the hospital come in via emergency care.

According to Rauschek, the respective certified departments ensure that patients with stroke and heart attack are adequately cared for on site.

"In these cases, none of us want to drive far, and every minute counts."

The Tölzer Klinik is currently economically “stable”, said Rauschek when asked.

“We are in the black.” Many clinics still have ten to 15 percent fewer patients than before Corona.

In the Tölzer Clinic it is three percent more because the offer has been expanded.

In this respect he is hopeful "that we can continue like this for the next 20 years".

You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.