Hospital.Help

Berlin – Shortly before the vote on Friday in the Federal Council on the Hospital Care Improvement Act (KHVVG), the health ministers of the federal states continue to make different appeals.

In a letter to the chairwoman of the Conference of Health Ministers (GMK), Kerstin von der Decken (CDU), the German Association of Cities demands that hospital reform must take place quickly.

“We urgently appeal to the states to ensure that the process of restructuring hospital financing and planning that has begun, despite the expected early end of the legislative period, is completed and not postponed into the next legislative period,” writes Stefan Hahn, the permanent deputy the general manager of the German Association of Cities.

In the letter that… German medical journal is available, it goes on to say that the cities “would have to cover the operations and investments for their municipal hospitals from their own deficit budgets. At the same time, there is a risk that they will soon find themselves in the position of having to do the same for other providers’ hospitals.”

“Unstructured hospital deaths must be avoided.” Therefore, there must be a rapid new financing system that does not remain in the mediation committee “without a clear timetable.”

The emergency medicine specialist societies German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) and the German Society for Interdisciplinary Emergency and Acute Medicine (DGINA) also warn of failure. In addition to the KHVVG, you are also concerned with the draft law “on the reform of emergency care” (Emergency Care Act), which has already been discussed with experts in the Bundestag but has not yet been agreed upon.

“The status quo of emergency care in Germany does not meet needs and urgently needs to be comprehensively reformed in all sectors,” said DIVI President Felix Walcher. Martin Pin, President of DGINA and Chief Physician of the Central Interdisciplinary Emergency Room at the Florence Nightingale Hospital in Düsseldorf, warns: “If these legislative proposals fail, there is a risk of stagnation. We can’t afford that in the current situation.”

Because: “The legislative proposals, which are already well advanced, have the potential to sustainably and positively reform hospital planning, emergency care and the rescue service in the interests of good care. This could take us a big step closer to the urgently needed coordinated integration of these areas.”

The Hartmannbund once again calls on the federal states to “smartly weigh up their options for implementing necessary changes” to the planned hospital law. In this way, the comprehensive basic care of the population in rural and structurally weak regions should not be jeopardized.

“This requires a more flexible allocation of service groups for hospitals in rural areas that are far away from metropolitan areas in order to maintain the necessary capacities even when the number of cases is low, as well as a remuneration that is actually independent of the number of cases in order to secure the necessary hospital structures,” says the Hartmannbund.

The Federal Association of Medical Technology (BVMed) is calling for more investment financing and a stronger focus on the quality of results in medical care from the reform. For this, “short-term additions and timely adjustments” to the law are necessary, the association said shortly before the decision in the Federal Council.

A new federal government must act quickly and, for example, draw up a “master plan for investment financing”. The majority of hospitals cannot finance material and personnel costs from the regular revenue from patient treatment. “This not only endangers the performance and existence of hospitals, but can also have negative consequences on the quality of hospital treatment,” warns BVMed.

The pain doctors, on the other hand, see a quick appeal to the mediation committee: “We urgently appeal to the federal states in the Federal Council to call the mediation committee. This is the last chance to prevent a disaster for patients with chronic pain,” said Joachim Nadstawek, chairman of the professional association of doctors and psychological psychotherapists in pain and palliative medicine in Germany (BVSD) in a statement.

The association fears that as a result of the KHVVG, “Interdisciplinary multimodal pain therapy” would no longer be a component of future inpatient and day-care care. Therefore, the “introduction of a separate service group ‘Interdisciplinary multimodal pain therapy’ must be placed on the mediation committee’s agenda as a priority.”

As voices from the federal states showed yesterday, there will likely be a close decision for or against the mediation committee the day after tomorrow. At least 35 votes of the total 69 state votes in the Federal Council are required to call the Mediation Committee. Most countries have made their decision. There are 30 votes for entry into the mediation committee. As things currently stand, the decision from Hesse is likely to be the deciding factor. © bee/cmk/aerzteblatt.de