Skepticism with good grades of nursing assessment

Experts skeptical in the face of extremely good marks

06/16/2014

The medical service of the health insurance companies (MDK) takes over the consultation and examination with suspicion on a treatment error. Now this achievement has been verified for the first time. The grades for the MDK were so good that doubts about the resilience of the numbers are expressed by various parties.

The „great grades“ to awaken in the report „Skepticism from numerous experts“, reports the „Doctors newspaper“. Only five percent of those potentially in need of care and their relatives would have been dissatisfied with the nursing assessment in the report, explains the medical service of the umbrella organization Bund der Krankenkassen e.V. (MDS). On the other hand, be „86 percent of those in need of care were satisfied with the assessment of the MDK.“ Nine percent would have „partly satisfied“ uttered. The President of the German Nursing Council, Andreas Westerfellhaus, emphasized that „Doctors newspaper“ , That the MDK certainly has a lot of competent people in action, but doubts about such a good result are needed if someone has commissioned an opinion on themselves.

34,000 questionnaires should be sent
According to the MDS, the report should determine how satisfied sick and dependent people or their relatives actually are with the work of the experts of the MDK and where they want changes. As part of a representative survey, more than 5,500 questionnaires were filled in by the people in need of care and their relatives. In total, around 34,000 questionnaires developed with scientific participation are to be sent out in 2014, reports the MDS. Around 16,000 have already been dispatched and the response rate was around 35 percent. In about 30 percent of the cases, those potentially in need of care completed the questionnaire themselves, 59 percent of the cases were done by family members or private caregivers, and 5.6 percent by legal guardians „Doctors newspaper“. The questioning will „carried out annually from now on“, so the message of the medical service. The legislature envisages a survey of 2.5 percent of the assessed patients. Last year, about 1.4 million nursing assessments were carried out.

Nine out of ten respondents are satisfied with MDK services
The content of the survey is according to the MDS „satisfaction with the information about the review process, personal contact and the appearance of the reviewer.“ Satisfaction with the result of the review was not an issue. The „Doctors newspaper“ reported, the submitted documents of the company M + M Management + Marketing GmbH from Kassel would show that „On average, 87 percent of those surveyed were satisfied with the information provided by the MDK on the care assessment“ and 91 percent were the friendliness and helpfulness of the reviewers as „Well“ evaluated. More than 90 percent of the respondents were also satisfied with the presentation of the reviewers and on-time delivery. In a similar way, this also applied to the accessibility of the MDK in case of queries and the treatment of patients. 90 percent of the respondents considered the reviewers as „respectful, empathetic and competent“, reports the „Doctors newspaper“.

Doubts about the phenomenally good grades
Opposite the „Doctors newspaper“ Volker Hansen, chairman of the board of directors of the MDS, explained that the findings of the expert opinion „so many criticisms of the care assessment by the MDK“ refute. In particular, the friendliness and helpfulness of the contact persons at the MDK, the expertise of the experts and the respectful and sensitive treatment of the insured are rated as positive by nine out of ten people in need of care, MDS continues. Not only the President of the German Nursing Council awakens the phenomenally good results of the report, however, considerable doubt. Also the chairman of the German foundation patient protection, Eugen Brysch, expressed opposite the „Doctors newspaper“ his skepticism. Here have „the lawmakers put the entire survey procedure in the hands of the payee with blue eyes. So the goat has been made a gardener“, stressed Brysch.

Suggestions for improvement of insured persons
Although the insured overall were extremely satisfied with the performance of the MDK, but also desirable changes have been named, reports the MDS. Here, for example, the patients would have for „an even stronger focus on their individual care situation and more time for the assessment“ pronounced. Based on the results of the representative survey, further quality improvement measures will be identified in the future. Significant improvements have been made in the past in the processing time. Even by the requirements of the Pflegeeuordnungsgesetzes from 2012 to submit applications for review within four weeks, the average processing time had fallen from 25.5 days to 15.2 days, reported the MDS Chairman Volker Hansen to the „Doctors newspaper“. (Fp)