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Pediatrician at work
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Peter Gercke / picture alliance / Peter Gercke/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach recently had good news for all overcrowded pediatric surgeries and hospitals in Germany.
He announced that the budgets of the practices should no longer be capped in the future.
Every additional patient should also be reimbursed, he promised in a speech in the Bundestag.
Lauterbach wanted to give practices an incentive to treat more patients.
The measure should take effect quickly in view of the RSV wave.
This sparked enthusiasm in the practices.
Now a letter from Lauterbach to Andreas Gassen, the chairman of the board of directors of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) and the chairman of the board of directors of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, Dr.
Doris Pfeifer for distrust in paediatricians.
The Professional Association of Pediatricians (BVKJ) gives the impression "that the Minister of Health is again refraining from making his own announcement," as stated in a statement.
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The paediatricians are annoyed that Lauterbach's letter suddenly no longer mentions "debudgeting".
Instead, it is suggested that the medical services rendered be remunerated within a limited time frame.
In the letter, which is available to SPIEGEL, the minister calls for the situation of pediatricians to be “at least until the end of the first quarter of 2023, even without a corresponding determination by the RKI, the German Bundestag or the WHO under number 3 of the decision is taken into account.
In this way, it is ensured that the services rendered are paid promptly, at the latest in the following billing period, at the prices of the applicable euro fee schedule.«
»We will no longer provide unpaid services«
»A short-term improvement in the remuneration of paediatricians is not enough.
The minister fails to recognize that this will in no way solve the fundamental structural problem,” explains Stefan Renz, Vice President of the BVKJ.
"In the Bundestag, Karl Lauterbach announced the immediate suspension of budgeting for children's hospitals and practices, as decided in the coalition agreement.
We will accept that and nothing else.
From the letter that the minister sent out that same day, there is little evidence other than that he has broken his word to us.«
The pediatricians in Germany are already working nationwide on the verge of exhaustion, the statement continues.
»We provide masses of unpaid services.
And now we can no longer even rely on statements made by Karl Lauterbach in the Bundestag.
That is a bitter breach of trust,” says Renz.
He had already written to the Minister of Health and asked for a timely, direct conversation.
»If no agreement can be reached, protests will follow.
One thing is certain: we will no longer provide unpaid services.«
Two state associations of the professional association in North Rhine-Westphalia (Westphalia-Lippe and North Rhine) had even called for Lauterbach's resignation because of the letter and announced that services in the practices would be significantly restricted if the minister breaks his promise.
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