From a patient's perspective, beneficial innovations—product innovations, but especially process innovations—should benefit all those affected as quickly as possible, meaning they should be covered by the collective agreement. The fact that the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) largely fails in this regard in the age of out-of-pocket expenses and selective contracts is inherent in the prevailing incentives. The legislator intended the Innovation Fund to at least mitigate this problem. The question is: Can it actually fulfill this function? There is growing evidence that it will not, or hardly, do so.

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