KBV and Zi are launching large surveys about the situation in medical and psychotherapy practices

25.10.2023 18:22

On Thursday, October 19th, all practice owners in Germany received survey forms from the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance (Zi) by email or post. The aim of the survey is to obtain as comprehensive a picture as possible of the general conditions of work in statutory health care. The survey is carried out by the Zi in cooperation with the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV).

The practicing doctors and psychotherapists are asked to provide information about how they personally currently experience everyday life in practice and how they assess their professional and economic situation. For example, the question is whether there is a staff shortage and whether this or the risk of recourse for prescriptions is already leading to restrictions in patient care. Questions are also being asked as to whether practice owners are currently seriously considering leaving care prematurely due to the general conditions. The KBV board has recently received a lot of critical feedback from individual practice owners, but there is no comprehensive picture of the mood.

The second part of the survey is about what framework conditions the practices need in order to be able to provide their patients with appropriate care. The KBV representatives' meeting passed seven demands on politicians in August. The participants in the survey are asked to rate how important it is to them, for example, to abolish budgets and recourse for ordered services or sensible digitalization with functioning technology and appropriate financing.

Answering the questions takes about ten minutes. Participation is possible until November 20, 2023.

This explains Dr. Dominik von Stillfried, Chairman of the Zi: “We know from our research work that the situation in medical and psychotherapy practices has apparently never been as serious as it is now. We also know that the development of medicine and demographics are leading to an increased need for medical care. So there are higher demands on the practices and every practice counts. That's why we now want to know exactly how those in the practice see their current work and the future. I hope for very broad participation so that we can convey a reliable picture to the public and health politicians.”

The link to the survey is: pks.zi.de/