Hospital.Help

Stuttgart The ongoing complaint by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) to the European Commission in Brussels against competitive disadvantages to the detriment of outpatient care is welcomed by the medical associations MEDI GENO Germany and MEDI Baden-Württemberg.

We support the KBV’s complaint. The planned hospital reform will enable clinics to participate more extensively in outpatient care in the future, with the help of tax-financed investments. This is not in line with competition law. The contracted doctors must continue to cover their investment costs themselves, said Norbert Smetak, Chairman of MEDI GENO Germany and practicing cardiologist.

The doctors’ associations are also demanding the right to strike for practicing doctors and psychotherapists. If we, like the hospitals, could implement our demands more consistently through strikes, we would not need to lodge complaints with the EU, said Smetak. This, too, shows an injustice.

MEDI GENO Germany and MEDI Baden-Württemberg have been campaigning for the right to strike for practicing physicians and psychotherapists since 2012. MEDI initiated proceedings in which the Federal Social Court (BSG) rejected the right to strike, particularly with reference to the special features of the contract physician system under SGB V.

The Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) rejected the constitutional complaint against the Federal Social Court’s ruling, so MEDI filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over two years ago – but according to the doctors’ association, this procedure has not progressed any further. © aha/aerzteblatt.de