Health insurance companies demand more latches to close

Health insurance companies call for hospital reform

10/10/2013

The statutory health insurance funds demand from the future federal government a nationwide reduction of hospitals. Through the many hospitals, a nationwide coverage is more than enough available. The quality of the treatments leaves much to be desired.

In the long overdue reform hospitals are to be closed on a large scale to finally reduce the overcapacity, said the vice chairman of the National Association of statutory health insurance (GKV), Johann -Laus von Stackelberg.

The chairman accused the federal states of having planned irresponsibly in the past. The construction of clinics would in the majority just as „Vehicle used for a local business promotion. The care of patients is not the focus here. Overcapacities have driven up treatment prices. Added to this is the doubtful increase in operations and the resulting lack of focus on quality orientation.

How many of the over 2000 hospitals in Germany should be, was not said. The only thing that is certain is that something has to change. Our Dutch neighbors have a population of around 17 million with only 132 hospitals. By comparison, the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia alone has more than 400 hospitals with a similar population size and an approximately equal number of cases. Stackelberg emphasized that the planned closures are not about the rural clinics, but rather that the smaller hospitals in the cities should be dismantled. For the responsible head of the GKV association, Wulf-Dietrich Leber, it is not done with a reduction of ten percent. He calls for a bigger break.

14-point plan to streamline hospital sector
The Hospital Rating Report 2013 already showed that 27 percent of the approximately 2,000 hospitals are at risk of insolvency. Half of it even very much. For the health insurance companies a reason to use a 14 point plan to close the unnecessary clinics. In future, especially in metropolitan areas, a tendering model for planable inpatient services, such as hip or knee surgery, will control capacity utilization and compensation. So far, the coffers are subject to the so-called obligation to contract. This means that clinics with poor quality have to be reimbursed just like homes that provide care. The coffers would have to be able to conclude contracts with good clinics, so that the bad hospitals can no longer exist on the market. Thus, even with complex medical interventions a control should take place. In this case, only the latches, which can show certain minimum case numbers, come to the fore. Due to this concentration „specialty clinics“ the cash registers hope for a quality improvement of the treatments.

Economic reasons for more operations
With the established catalog of measures, also the increasing quantity at operation is to be stopped. Only one third of the increase is due to an aging population. Behind the strong increase are not only medical but also economic reasons. Overall, the German Hospital Association (DKG) rejected the claims of the funds. In the plans, they see an increase in the already existing rationalization pressure on the employees. (Fr)

Image: Dieter Schütz