Health reforms threaten German hospitals

Admin I Tuesday, July 11, 2023

 

BERLIN – The German Hospital Federation has warned that planned reforms could put smaller hospitals at risk of closure.

“We expect that one in four or one in five hospitals will not survive the next five to seven years,” the head of the federation, Gerald Gaß, told public broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday.

“It is also our greatest concern that in the coming years, before the reform can even take effect, many small hospitals, especially in rural areas, will disappear,” Gaß added.

Germany’s federal and state governments agreed on the basics for hospital reform on Monday, after months of talks.

Among the reforms is a change in how hospitals get paid. The current 20-year-old model sees payment of hospitals via flat rates per case. This is to be changed in order to relieve the institutions from financial pressure to deal with more and more cases.

In the future, they are to receive receive a large proportion of the remuneration for providing services.

The reform plans have to be turned into legislation and are not expected to take effect until early next year.

Fourteen of the 16 state government support the reform blueprint agreed on Monday. The southern state of Bavaria rejected them and the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein abstained.

Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek criticized the plans, saying that how hospitals in rural areas will be affected remains unclear.

“There are still so many unanswered questions that have now been postponed to the legislative process,” Holetschek told Bavarian public broadcaster.