Currency reform for doctors' fees called for

13.10.2009 14:50

Freelance surgeons in financial distress

The professional association of freelance surgeons (BNC) reports that the more than 70,000 established specialists in Germany with their around 210,000 employees are in financial distress. The reasons for this are “bureaucratic manipulation” and “capped fees”.

Resident surgeons are particularly affected. The President of the BNC Dr. Dieter Haack criticizes: “The fees currently paid make one forget that surgeons practice a responsible academic profession that should ensure the doctor a reasonable income.”

According to the professional association, the current surgical quarterly budgets (standard service volumes) are not nearly enough to treat a patient for a full three months. “The original business calculation of our fee catalog, the EBM, has been abandoned. A point value of 5.11 cents was already estimated in 2002 - today the same point value is only 3.5 cents," says Haack: "We need a currency reform for our doctors' fees."