Share:
VLK Draft of thinning hospital landscape
Professor Weiser, President of the Association of Senior Hospital Physicians (VLK) of Germany, has designated the draft of a hospital structure law, which was recently approved by the Federal Cabinet, as a bill to thicken the hospital landscape.
In the opinion of the VLK, the bill fails to achieve the desired goal of developing the framework conditions for hospital care so that an easily accessible, high-quality hospital care can be ensured in the future.
(Image: Kurt Kleemann / fotolia.com) Weiser: "The law undoubtedly has the intention of causing a thinning out of the hospital landscape under the guise of quality, i. to redefine the nationwide supply of the population. "
Hospitals will in future be "measured" with quality indicators. These quality indicators are to be prepared by subordinate institutions (G-BA) within one year. It is doubtful that these indicators are legally sound, sound and consensual.
As a consequence, if the randomly determined quality indicators are not reached, hospitals may be threatened with leaving the hospital plan or not being admitted to it without the local or local politicians having to take responsibility for hospital closures.
The bill also contains a contradiction in terms: on the one hand, the quality of the services provided in the hospitals should be significantly increased. On the other hand, hospitals, which due to their good quality record a higher inflow, possibly penalized with compensation discounts, as from the point of view of the payers - possibly also the policy - is assumed that increases in case numbers are usually economically justified.
In addition, the present bill will leave the central problems of hospitals in the area of operating cost financing unresolved and will cause a massive deterioration as a result of new cuts and burdens.
Weiser: "If this bill does not undergo any significant improvements in the course of further parliamentary deliberations, the hospitals' efficiency and thus the high-quality nationwide care of patients will suffer considerable damage." (PM, Verband der Leitenden Krankenhausärzte Deutschlands e.V.)