New compensation model
Lauterbach presents a draft for clinical reform
March 16, 2024, 12:23 p.m
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So far, clinics have been paid per patient and case. Health Minister Lauterbach wants to focus on specializations and thus noticeably improve the quality of treatment. To this end, the provision of services should be better compensated. Another criterion is accessibility.
The planned hospital reform in Germany is becoming more concrete. The Ministry of Health has drawn up a draft bill. The reform is intended to introduce a new compensation method. Hospitals should then no longer treat as many patients as possible for reasons of revenue. Clinics currently receive a flat rate per patient or treatment case. These per-case flat rates should be reduced. In return, there should be fixed amounts for the provision of staff, an emergency room or necessary medical technology.
In the future, the clinics should receive 60 percent of the remuneration simply for providing services. According to department head Karl Lauterbach’s plan, the basis for financing by the health insurance companies will be more precisely defined service groups that ensure uniform quality standards.
According to the draft bill, extra money will be estimated from 2027:
- 288 million euros for the provision of pediatric medicine wards
- for obstetric units 120 million euros
- for stroke wards 35 million euros
- for intensive care units 30 million euros
The federal states are responsible for hospital planning.
According to the draft bill, internal medicine and general surgery wards should be reachable by car in a maximum of 30 minutes. For the other performance groups, the travel time should be a maximum of 40 minutes. The planning should also take into account the number of residents who would be affected by longer travel times if there are no corresponding services in their local area.
Most recently it was said that the draft law would be passed in the cabinet on April 24th. According to Lauterbach, “major quality deficits” should be reduced through more specialization. Today, a third of cancer treatments are carried out in those two thirds of German clinics that do not understand this well due to a lack of experience. The result is serious complications such as sepsis (blood poisoning), said Lauterbach at the end of January. The reform will significantly change the hospital landscape. So far there are over-supplied cities and under-supplied areas in rural regions.