Bankruptcies in hospitals
University hospital boss pleads for rapid bed reduction
12/27/2022, 8:48 p.m
Germany’s hospitals have had a disastrous financial year. Almost 60 percent of the clinics expect losses in the closing balance. The medical director of the Essen University Hospital is therefore calling for the hospital to be closed quickly.
Jochen Werner, the medical director of the University Hospital in Essen, wants to counteract the imminent wave of bankruptcies in the healthcare system with a rapid reform of the hospital system. “If we don’t finally decide to reduce the number of beds, we won’t see a rapid improvement,” explains Werner in an interview with ntv. Stronger centralization with the university clinics as coordinating centers is needed.
“We will have to close and rededicate certain hospital facilities,” emphasizes Werner. Digitization and a different type of medical care are needed. “But these are all the steps that experts have known for many years.”
On the other hand, the director of the Essen University Hospital does not lack the financial resources of the healthcare system. “We have enough money in the system,” says Werner. “It’s not well distributed, though.” As a result of this and the shortage of skilled workers, there will be “a slow reduction in services in hospitals and transfers.”
Unprecedented wave of bankruptcies
Germany’s hospitals have had a disastrous financial year: According to the editorial network Germany (RND), almost 60 percent of the hospitals expect losses in the closing balance sheet. According to the report, a situation report by the German Hospital Society (DKG) predicts an unprecedented wave of bankruptcies for the coming year.
“In 2023, a wave of insolvencies will roll towards our clinics that can hardly be stopped,” said association leader Gerald Gass to the RND. The damage to medical care will become visible in many regions in 2023, he emphasized, referring to the current hospital barometer of the German Hospital Institute (DKI), an annual representative survey of general hospitals in Germany.