"Revolution" in the hospital sector - Lauterbach and Co. decide on new regulations in the health system
Created: 04/12/2022, 04:50
By: Patrick Freiwah
The case-based system apparently brings lucrative additional income to German hospitals.
A new package of laws is intended to remedy this and other shortcomings.
Berlin/Munich – Are too many patients in hospitals for too long, causing unnecessary costs?
Karl Lauterbach sees this as one of the biggest problems in the German healthcare system and is therefore making a comprehensive change of course in current practice.
At the heart of the problem are the so-called flat rates per case, which, depending on the diagnosis, represent a welcome additional source of income for hospitals.
This is sometimes at the expense of health insurance companies, who constantly complain about rising costs and could save a lot of money by changing the existing system.
German healthcare system: Lauterbach explains pioneering innovations
On the fringes of a legislative package presented by the traffic light coalition on Friday, the Federal Minister of Health explained his huge hospital reform, which he had announced for some time: "In the future, medical necessity should no longer decide on treatment in the clinics."
Fewer unnecessary overnight stays in the clinic is one of the points mentioned, and it is also about more money for child care and relief for the nursing staff.
Overall, German hospitals should be able to detach themselves more from economic pressure, according to the intention.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach is apparently a thorn in the side of the current flat-rate system in Germany.
© IMAGO/Christian Spicker
With the law passed in the Bundestag on December 2, "no less than a revolution" in the financing of hospitals is beginning, SPD politician Lauterbach said, emphasizing that the "balance between medicine and economy has been lost".
The 59-year-old compared the current situation in medical facilities with food discounters.
Day treatments instead of overnight stays: part of the "revolution" in the hospital sector
And that's what the topic of day treatments is all about: In the future, certain examinations in the clinics should also be possible without an overnight stay - and thus be billed by the hospitals.
As desired, this should create more capacity for the scarce nursing staff during the day when fewer night shifts have to be filled.
These day treatments should only be possible with patient consent.
However, the solution should not be considered for complex or high-risk treatments.
The opposition has criticized the plans.
Union health expert Tino Sorge spoke of a “hospital burden law” and that the nursing staff would be given thumbscrews again with rigid personnel specifications.
There is also skepticism in the care sector.
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Bundestag launches hospital reform – will the “hamster wheel effect” be eliminated?
According to the ministry, the legislative package presented on Friday is a first "small" hospital reform - next Tuesday Karl Lauterbach wants to present an even more far-reaching one.
Declared goal: "Overcoming" the general financing system via lump sums for treatment cases.
In the meantime, this has become so independent that it is at the expense of the quality of care, the Social Democrat, who lives in Cologne, recently explained.
A "hamster wheel effect" is to blame for this: Clinics would only be able to maintain or increase the budget if the number of cases increased.
This results in a profit for those clinics that spend as little money as possible on their services - whereas those facilities that spend more would be financially punished.
Will the measures in the German health care system promoted by the Federal Ministry of Health bring about an improvement?
The President of the German Nursing Council is skeptical.
Christine Vogler is quoted by
Bild.de
: "Our nurses are completely overworked.
Nothing changes when fit patients sleep at home.
Because they don't keep calling the night shift.
It is more important that we no longer work with exploitative minimum staffing levels on the wards."
(PF)
