Poor patient consultation by doctors

Affected seek advice in the „Independent patient advice Germany“

02/07/2013

Poor counseling, excessive bills, a lack of insight into the medical record or fear for their own existence, because suddenly no more sick pay is paid - more than 14,500 patients have between April 2012 and March 2013 in the „Independent patient advice Germany“ (UPD) filed a complaint, in total, according to the organization around 75,000 consultations were conducted. Now the UPD has systematically evaluated all these discussions for the first time and, by publishing the results in the "Monitor Patient Counseling", pointed out abuses that apparently affect thousands of patients.

The case Maria K .: Practice does not hand over medical records
56-year-old Maria K. suffers from diabetes, severe overweight and hypertension. Since her family doctor suddenly prescribes a new drug, she is confused and asks why - but no plausible medical justification, but only a reference to the limited budget of the doctor. The doctor ends the conversation by pointing out that Mrs. K. should „just leave out their cookies and lose weight“, because then no medication would be necessary. Injured by this reaction, Ms. K. changes her family doctor - also because her health insurance company has told her that the doctor should have continued to prescribe the medicine to her. Since she does not want to undergo all the examinations again, she asks her previous doctor by phone for a copy of her medical record, but since despite repeated reminder the copy is not handed out, she turns to the UPD for help seeking.

"Monitor patient consultation" shows „Worries and needs of those seeking advice“ on
In the case of Maria K., the UPD exemplifies the patients' problems in its current report - because for the first time the organization has systematically evaluated all 75,068 interviews conducted between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013 and the results published in the "Monitor Patient Counseling": This one „gives an impression of the concerns, concerns and needs of those seeking advice and shows where patients encounter obstacles and obstacles on the way through our health care system“, so the UPD.

UPD for many sufferers the "last (trust) instance"
Even if the data collected, according to UPD Managing Director Sebastian Schmidt-Kaehler are not representative, they would nevertheless „important and serious indications and indications of possible problems that should be pursued by politicians and scientists“ deliver. For many people, UPD is the "last (trust) authority" after a long journey through institutions and institutions, according to the UPD, because a key problem is generally that patients do not know enough about their rights: „In the consultation, we see that many patients do not know their rights, let alone demand them [...] and you do not always meet them in the medical industry at eye level and a self-confident treatment with doctors or health insurance, many people seeking advice do not dare - they just believe that they have no chance as patients“, said Schmidt-Kaehler in a recent UPD press release.

Patients are often "incomplete, inconsistent or misinformed“
According to the report, in approximately 7340 cases, according to the report, it was obvious to the UPD consultants that patients were "incomplete, inconsistent or misinformed," in 4,900 cases „Problems in the area of ​​access to care“ ascertained, whereby here mostly the well-founded presumption existed, „that benefits have been unjustifiably refused by service providers or payers.“ In 4143 other cases, consultants also found evidence of "poor quality of care" according to the UPD report.

UPD identifies five main areas of expertise
By analyzing the interviews, the experts were able to identify five areas of focus that appeared to have a particularly high relevance for the patients „patients' rights“ in the first place - alone there had been more than 10,000 consultations between April 2012 and March 2013, where it „particularly often [...] the right to inspect sick leave, followed by deliberations on inappropriate behavior by healthcare operators and the granting of necessary treatment“ went, so the information in the „Monitor patient consultation“.

Common topics: Treatment errors and dental treatments
In addition, according to the UPD, the suspicion of treatment errors was a frequent topic in the counseling sessions (6,781 interviews), and this „especially common in treatments and procedures in the field of osteoarthritis of hip and knee joints as well as in the context of dental treatment“ occurred, so the „Monitor patient consultation“ continue.
Requests for dental health and dental treatment were also a common topic with more than 5,000 conversations, according to the UPD „in addition to questions about treatment errors and patient rights, especially about costs and the legality of financial claims in the context of dental care.“

Sick pay raises many questions among those affected
Mental illnesses were also often the reason for a consultation (2,184 counseling contacts), mostly focused on counseling with regard to sickness benefit and outpatient psychotherapeutic treatment. In addition, the UPD also asked questions about the payment of sickness benefit (eg eligibility, opportunities and prospects of success) to enforce these claims or sociomedical examinations) is apparently a central issue for the patient and „was frequently discussed with 4,761 consultations.“

Positive feedback from patient representative Wolfgang Zöller
Now the UPD has handed over its report to the Federal Government Commissioner for Patience Wolfgang Zöller - and at the same time has received very positive feedback: „The report is an excellent basis for patient-oriented quality assurance measures for health insurance companies and the medical profession“, according to the UPD's press release - and thus, in the opinion of the patient adviser, is the optimal way to bring the patients' rights back to the center of attention: „I can only recommend to understand him and to critically question his own work on the points mentioned. Of course, I will also include the information in the report in politics, so that, if necessary, legislative consequences can be drawn - for the benefit of the patients. "(Nr)

Picture credits: Aka