Hospital.Help

Berlin – More than every second rehabilitation clinic fears red numbers for the current year. This is shown by the BWKG indicator of the Baden-Württemberg Hospital Association (BWKG). It is calling for reforms in the remuneration of inpatient rehabilitation services.

“The rehabilitation clinics have been waiting for these reforms for a long time and so far in vain,” said BWKG Chairman Heiner Scheffold today. The difficult economic situation of the rehabilitation clinics is a consequence of unfunded cost increases from recent years, but also of permanently inadequately funded personnel costs.

“With daily rates at the level of an average hotel overnight stay, neither the medical, nursing and therapeutic services for the rehabilitation patients nor the urgently needed digitization can be financed. The rehabilitation clinics urgently need a significant increase in their remuneration,” said the BWKG CEO.

The hospital association also demands that patients be able to choose freely from among the approved rehabilitation clinics without incurring additional costs. Doctors should also be able to directly prescribe rehabilitation and preventive measures for all indications.

According to the analysis, 46.3 percent of rehabilitation clinics ended 2023 in the red. For 2024, 50.7 percent of rehabilitation clinics are even forecasting deficits.

The clinics are also suffering from a shortage of staff: In the BWKG indicator, 81.5 percent of the managers of rehabilitation facilities say that it is difficult or rather difficult to fill vacant positions in the medical service. 77.6 percent have difficulty finding nursing staff. 65.7 percent have problems filling positions in the medical-technical service.

In this context, it is “completely incomprehensible” that rehabilitation clinics are still not allowed to provide general nursing training, even though this is stated in the federal government’s coalition agreement, criticised Scheffold. © hil/aerzteblatt.de