Hospital.Help

Berlin In outpatient care, there is currently a mixture of an increasing perceived shortage of appointments and an appointment offer at the appointment service centers that is not being used by the insured. The Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Zi) pointed this out today.

Anyone who believes they urgently need medical treatment can call the appointment service center of the statutory health insurance associations on 116117 around the clock or visit the website www.116117.de. There, the need for care is initially assessed and appropriate care is provided to those seeking help.

According to the Zi, it is true that many doctors are working at full capacity, but the appointment service centers’ offer is still far from exhausted. According to the Zi, of the 2.6 million appointments that doctors’ practices reported to the appointment service centers in the past 12 months, 1.2 million have been arranged.

It is often said that the hurdle to finding an appointment is particularly high, especially in urban areas. But almost 300,000 of the 2.6 million appointment offers reported nationwide since the end of May 2023 have come from Berlin alone. That’s 11.5 percent, explained Zi boss Dominik von Stillfried. More than 1,300 free appointments were reported in Berlin for May 30, 2024, of which only a good 800 were booked.

Von Stillfried also referred to the most recent survey of insured persons conducted by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) in 2021, according to which 58 percent of insured persons had received a doctor’s appointment on the same day or within three days.

However, many people do not know that 116117 can really help quickly and effectively if this does not work, says the Zi boss. In his view, greater use of the appointment service centers and financial support for the appointments provided could lead to more practices reporting more appointments to the appointment service center.

The Zi emphasizes that practices could be substantially relieved because practice teams still spend far too much time coordinating appointments. Efficient appointment prioritization makes absolute sense here, as emergency appointments are only given after an initial medical assessment.

In addition, many associations of statutory health insurance physicians are also expanding their range of video consultations, which can be booked online via appointment service centers, the Zi CEO made clear.

However, the Zi makes it clear that not all appointment requests can always be fulfilled via 116117. For example, the Berlin Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) points out that there are appointment shortages, particularly when it comes to access to psychotherapy.

There are also bottlenecks in specialist medical treatment, for example by neurologists and psychiatrists, gastroenterologists, endocrinologists, rheumatologists and pulmonologists. For the affected specialist groups in Berlin, there is therefore an obligation to register appointments with 116117. Nevertheless, the demand for 116117 of the Berlin Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians exceeds the corresponding appointment offer, writes the Zi.

For the institute, it is a bitter reality that there is less and less medical capacity available in practices. An ever-increasing average age means that more and more practice owners are retiring.

At the same time, the need is increasing: While the number of cases in hospitals is still considerably lower post-pandemic than before the pandemic (2019: 19.8 million, 2022: 17.2 million), the number of cases in practices has continued to rise (2019: 569.2 million, 2022: 577.7 million). © EB/aerzteblatt.de