Medical practices continue unfairly distributed

Insufficient medical care in rural areas

07/10/2014

Is medical care in Germany sufficient? With regard to the sheer number of practicing physicians, this may already be the case, because in comparison to many other countries, it is quite high. In addition, every year more young junior doctors stream into the labor market after graduation. But there is also a flip side to the coin: there are still not many GPs in many rural areas, and legal insured persons, in particular, often still have to wait forever for an appointment with the specialist.

Supply structure law has not yet been implemented nationwide
Monthly waiting for an appointment with the dermatologist and no reachable family doctor in the area - there are still many areas and regions that need to be optimized with regard to medical care. In early 2012 was the so-called „Supply Structure Act“ („Country Ärztegesetz“) came into force, by which actually a need-based supply for each German citizen should be guaranteed. But in the implementation, it seems to continue to hook in some places. This is the result of the "fact check health", for which the Iges Institute on behalf of the Bertelsmann Foundation has examined how doctors' practices should be distributed in the sense of old and new requirements planning and what these distributions would mean for the supply in the individual regions.

"Fact check health" compares distribution of medical practices
The study focused on four disciplines: primary care physicians, pediatricians, gynecologists and ophthalmologists. According to the report, there is a general urban-rural divide in all areas, as above-average numbers of doctors would practice in metropolitan areas. For many commuters probably no problem, because a routine visit to the doctor could theoretically be done before or after work. „Stefan Etgeton of the Bertelsmann Stiftung still believes that planning requires that the inhabitants of the surrounding area receive treatment in the city, "but while this approach sounds realistic to commuters, it can hardly be implemented in the treatment of children - an important one Aspect, because even today there are no longer enough pediatricians in many regions.

Number of circles with appropriate pediatric density is to decrease
This situation would be exacerbated by the "fact check" in the new demand planning: Thus, after the implementation of the new plans would reduce the number of circles with appropriate density of doctors from the current 106 to 89. Thus, in the future, instead of the present 14, 38 districts would have been significantly underperformed with paediatricians - whereas the number of districts with significantly above-average care would rise from 15 to 23. In addition, the new planning would reveal the differences between the old and the new federal states. According to the Bertelsmann Stiftung, for example, an above-average number of gynecologists are envisaged in Baden-Württemberg, so that in 17 out of 44 districts the medical supply would clearly exceed demand. Quite different is the situation in the East, where many regions are well below average; in Thuringia alone, this would affect 16 out of 23 districts.

Landarzt's job must become more attractive to young doctors
„Essentially, the Land Medical Act misses its goal, "Dr. Stefan Etgeton continues, because the new demand planning for distributing physicians does not deliver on their promise, especially when it comes to the supply of specialist physicians, and there is still room for improvement in the distribution of GPs While this would lead to an improvement, it would still not provide adequate coverage in more than half of the districts, arguing that needs planning neglects many aspects that affect a region's supply needs, such as In addition, all projects are in any case obsolete if the offspring fails: „The best plans are of no use if there are no strategies for implementation. The improvement, for example, at the land physicians is initially only on paper. If it is to become reality, the job of a country doctor must become more attractive to junior doctors. It's about both financial incentives and living and working conditions in the countryside, "said Etgeton.