Wednesday December 22, 2021
Lucrative help
That’s how much doctors earn from vaccinating
By Christina Lohner
Doctors who vaccinate against the coronavirus can earn thousands of euros in addition. The work is no picnic, emphasizes the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. So that as much as possible is vaccinated, incentives are needed.
The vaccinating doctors are the linchpin in the fight against the pandemic and have to struggle with additional effort just as much as with insecure patients. But they can also make good money from it – sometimes several thousand euros a month.
Doctors in private practice receive 28 euros per corona vaccination in their own practice, and even 36 euros on weekends and public holidays. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach also wants to pay the increased fee for the period from December 24th to January 9th. That is significantly more than for other vaccinations. Berlin doctors, for example, receive between 8 and 20 euros per vaccination against other diseases for those insured with AOK. How much an individual doctor vaccines against Covid-19 is not recorded centrally, but can at least be calculated using an example. The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) Berlin counted a total of 2,932,999 vaccinations by 3,276 doctors in 2,676 practices from mid-March to mid-December – making an average of 99 vaccinations per month and doctor.
With this average value, a doctor would get between almost 2800 and 3600 euros per month before taxes, minus his own costs, for example for staff and practice. If you divide the total number of doses delivered to practices and company doctors nationwide by all of the approximately 108,000 vaccinating doctors, the current amount is around 8,500 to 10,900 euros. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, almost 8.2 million doses were delivered to practices and company doctors in the week up to December 5, an average of around 76 per doctor. According to information from professional associations, around 93,000 resident doctors vaccinate against Corona as well as an estimated 9,000 private doctors and around 6,000 company doctors.
150 euros per hour in the vaccination center
How much the doctors vaccinate in addition to their usual treatments and how much instead cannot be quantified by the statutory health insurance associations. Doctors handle this very differently; Many employed doctors, for example, do not normally work full-time, so it is easier to additionally vaccinate against Covid-19. The average earnings of general practitioners also vary widely. A family doctor in Berlin, for example, received an average fee of around 61,700 euros in the last quarter of 2020, which is the equivalent of almost 20,600 euros per month. As an “entrepreneur”, however, he or she also has to cover his or her expenses with this, for example for personnel, rent or even his or her own pension provision.
Doctors can also earn extra money in the vaccination centers, depending on the federal state. In Berlin, doctors there currently receive 120 euros per hour, the shifts last between six and eight hours. “The demand for the services is high,” reports the KV Berlin on ntv.de request. According to this, doctors can take on a maximum of two services per month, in December, as an exception, five.
In some other federal states they earn more in the vaccination centers; In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, there is 150 euros per hour, as the state health ministry ntv.de reports. However, the authorities do not know to what extent the doctors are on duty there, only this much: Eight hours per day should not be exceeded.
“Incentives to vaccinate as much as possible”
According to the Federal Ministry of Health, the vaccinated people received almost half of all doses vaccinated so far in practices, almost 43 percent in the vaccination centers, the rest in the public health service. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) does not find criticism of the level of remuneration appropriate. Up until a month ago, doctors still received 20 euros per vaccination in the practice. “It’s good that improvements have been made,” the spokesman for the KBV told ntv.de. “If you want as much vaccination as possible, it makes sense to create incentives.” For example, the staff for weekend shifts must also be recruited. Anyone who has been vaccinated against Corona for months must “keep their team in line – that is no picnic”.
In the meantime, the patient’s need for advice is also increasing. Vaccination skeptics must increasingly be convinced or, for example, parents’ questions about child vaccinations have to be answered. If things were done quickly, it would take a total of around 15 minutes for a patient to talk and vaccinate; in the case of previous illnesses, for example, up to 45 minutes are required. In addition, there would be a few minutes for the documentation, mostly in the evening hours.
Meanwhile, the Federal Association of Private Doctors has criticized the fact that not all doctors who want to be allowed to vaccinate, and that honorary doctors from hospitals are not allowed to do so. According to their own statements, up to 2,000 fee doctors complained to the association. “And those are only those who complain,” explains a spokeswoman for ntv.de. “These are valuable vaccination doctors who are not available” – in their eyes a “shame for Germany”.