Hospital summit: DKG demands reforms for stable health care

Hospital summit: DKG demands reforms for stable health care

hospital summit: future challenges and the need for a reform

This day a crucial hospital summit took place in Berlin, which focused on the health system in Germany. The discussions revolved around the pressing topics that the clinics burden both financially and structurally. The German Hospital Society (DKG) called for an immediate remuneration adjustment with regard to inflation. Dr. Carola Reimann, chair of the AOK federal association, brought a different perspective into the debate.

"The situation has now stabilized," emphasized Reimann, criticizing the focus on looking back. Although the inflation rate has dropped, it does not see the solution in an ongoing increase in financial resources for hospitals. The reason: The current system of hospital financing has long led to an inefficient structure. The gap between the rising costs and the services actually provided has increased further and further in recent years. For example, the expenditure of statutory health insurance (GKV) has increased by more than 60 percent since 2010, while the number of cases decreased by almost 11 percent at the same time.

Another important point that Reimann appealed is the dramatic development of the number of cases, especially for outpatient-sensitive diagnoses that led to a drastic decline before pandemic. The struggle for the economic stability of many clinics will gain explosive in the coming years. According to the current evaluations of the AOK scientific institute (Wido), the number of cases in the first half of 2024 rose slightly, but remain 13 percent below the 2019 level.

This decline means that a quarter of the hospital locations in Germany could be insolvent by 2030. The density of clinic locations, with over 1,700 houses, is extremely high in a European comparison. This situation requires urgent reforms to take into account the needs of the population. Dr. Reimann advocates investing funds in the clinics that are actually necessary for the care of the citizens instead of evenly distributing the existing funds.

As part of the upcoming hospital reform, she calls for the introduction of a needs -oriented financing, which is not only based on the number of cases treated. The establishment of a fund that covers the reservoir costs of the hospitals could reduce bureaucratic hurdles and enable crisis -proof financing. This would help the clinics to adapt better to changing cases and to analyze the need for care in their regions.