The ministry of Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has drawn up a draft bill.
The reform is intended to introduce a new remuneration method.
Today, most clinics receive a lump sum per treatment case. These flat rates per patient or treatment are to be reduced. In return, fixed amounts for the provision of staff, infrastructure, and medical technology would be allocated. The draft bill suggests that hospitals shall receive 60 percent of their remuneration for the provision of those services and only 40 percent per patient. Financing by the health insurance funds is to be based on more precisely defined service groups. They are to ensure standardised quality standards.
A second important objective of the draft bill is the establishment of uniform quality standards. In future, patients will be able to obtain an online overview of the services and quality of hospitals. According to Lauterbach, “major quality deficits” are to be reduced through more specialisation. Today, one third of cancer treatments are carried out in those two thirds of German clinics that do not specialise in this area due to a lack of experience. The reform will significantly change the hospital landscape, says Lauterbach. Until now, there have been over-supplied cities and under-supplied areas in rural regions.
The distance to the nearest hospital is also a topic in the draft bill. Internal medicine and general surgery wards should be reachable by car in a maximum of 30 minutes. For the other service groups, the journey time should be a maximum of 40 minutes. However, planning should also take into account the number of residents who would be affected by longer journey times if there are no corresponding services in their area.
Reaction of the German Federation of Private Hospitals to the Hospital Transparency Act, passed in February 2024
“There are still considerable reservations about the Hospital Transparency Act, which passed unchanged. No improvements were made to the deficit-ridden financing of operating costs. The urgently needed compensation for inflation and an increase in the state base rates will now come at best with the planned Hospital Care Improvement Act (KHVVG), which is to be passed by the Federal Cabinet on 27 April 2024. The content, design and amount of any aid are now once again in the hands of Federal Minister Lauterbach. A legal regulation that really helps hospitals cannot be expected until 1 July 2024 or 1 January 2025 at the earliest. “Too late,” says BDPK Managing Director Thomas Bublitz, “many hospitals will not live to see this aid.”
Information read in SZ newspaper and on the BDPK website
