Long waiting times at specialist appointments

Private insured get it faster: Long waiting times at specialist appointments

07/10/2013

Many patients in Germany have to wait more than three weeks for an appointment with the specialist. In the West, this is less common than in the East and private individuals are privileged.

Abolition of the practice fee
The abolition of the practice fee at the beginning of the year has not led to the feared onslaught on medical practices. As Andreas Köhler, head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), reported in Berlin, although the number of cases of treatment in the first three months in the outpatient care increased by 4.5 percent, but rather because of a flu epidemic. After the abolition of the fee, the number of referrals to a specialist decreased by about one fifth, with specialist treatments decreasing by only 0.7 percent in the first quarter. The reason for this may be that patients previously had to pay the practice fee again if they came without referral.

Longer waits in the east
As a survey of more than 6,000 health insured members of the research group Wahlen für die Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV) has shown, patients in the East on average have to wait longer for an appointment with a specialist than in the West. 14 percent of the insured in the East had to wait more than three weeks, of the Westerners, who had to wait so long, there were only nine percent. However, the doctor was speaking for about a third on both sides without waiting.

Private insurance is faster
The differences between private and legally insured persons are stated in the KBV report („“): „Thus, the nature of health insurance - even in detail with virtually no changes - makes a clear difference when it comes to scheduling appointments: Privately insured citizens tend to make their move faster than members of the statutory health insurance funds.“ For example, about eleven percent of health insured patients had to wait more than three weeks, compared with only four percent of private insureds.

Acute cases are treated immediately
Of the respondents, 85 percent said they had been at the doctor's home at least once in the past year, around one third were three to five times and about 20 percent six to ten times. Five percent come to more than 20 visits. Although about one third thought that they had to wait more than three days for an appointment, but Köhler stressed: „Almost half of the citizens can go to the doctor immediately - without waiting. "Michaela Schwabe from the Independent Patient Counseling Germany (UPD) said: „In acute, serious cases, a doctor can not refuse you.“ For example, if a patient with a high fever comes into the practice, he will be treated immediately. „If it is just a flu infection with cold and cough, it may be that the patient is put off until the next day, when the practice is very full.“

High satisfaction
More than three-quarters of respondents had no problem finding a family doctor, but only 56 percent said there were enough specialists in their area. 92 percent felt in good hands, only four percent were dissatisfied. According to KBV leader Köhler, the satisfaction level since the first survey in 2006 has been at this high level. It is also positive that three-quarters of patients do not have to wait more than 30 minutes before it is their turn to consult. (Ad)

Picture: Rainer Sturm