KVB board: New TI financing agreement with light and shadow
13.09.2023 16:57
The board of the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVB) reacted with relief to the improvements to the financing agreement for the operation of the telematics infrastructure (TI) by the responsible Federal Ministry of Health (BMG). After the new TI financing agreement was only made public by the BMG three days before it came into force on July 1, 2023, a revision followed with effect from September 1, 2023, which now reflects the status of TI applications in practices and certain elementary special features taken into account. Nevertheless, the sanctions threatened against practices in particular remain an unacceptable nuisance for the medical profession.
The board of directors of the KVB – Dr. Christian Pfeiffer, Dr. Peter Heinz and Dr. Claudia Ritter-Rupp – explained: “Even colleagues who have always complied with their contractual medical obligations in connection with the TI are now at risk of only being reimbursed for a fraction of their costs for the TI connection. If the practice management system manufacturer has not yet provided a TI application required by law or has not even filled in the required field identifier correctly, the practice concerned will only receive half of the TI flat rate to which it would be entitled. If there are two or more such applications, you will not receive any funding at all. We have the impression that the BMG is trying to put pressure on the IT industry on the backs of the practices. In our view, this is not the right way to promote the urgently needed digitalization of the healthcare system.”
The board of the KVB appeals to practices with a TI connection to check in their PVS whether they have all the applications required for their specific specialist group in the current version, whether necessary updates have been carried out and whether the current version status (update) is in the connector. date level PTV 5) is installed. Based on the test protocol of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, which is generated in every practice when a billing file is created, it can be checked whether the requirements for the TI applications have been met and whether the connector has already received a PTV5 update. If you need support or clarification, you should consult the respective IT service partner immediately.
In addition, from the point of view of the KVB board, the industry is required to quickly remedy any omissions with regard to TI applications that have not yet been implemented as well as with regard to missing field identifiers. In particular, the correct transmission of all field identifiers, which are essential as proof of TI obligations, must be adequately tested and ensured by the manufacturers of the respective PVS. Reductions in TI flat rates that arise due to negligence on the part of the industry will possibly - and from the perspective of the KVB Board of Directors quite rightly - lead to claims for damages from affected practices.
The KVB is also concerned that some IT service providers charge disproportionately high license fees for TI applications that practices must provide. The KVB board explained: “We would like to point out to the customers of such providers that, in accordance with the new TI financing agreement, practices that change their PVS in connection with the switch to the TI flat rate will not receive a reduction in the amount until the end of the first quarter of 2024 There is a risk of a flat rate fee due to missing applications - with the exception of eAU and ePrescription. Now may be the time to consider a PVS change.”