Outpatient care in danger: poaching of MFA and lack of new trainees

14.08.2023 13:22

The board of the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVB) warns of an alarming development that is increasingly endangering outpatient patient care in Bavaria. Medical assistants (MFA) who were trained in the practices of general practitioners are increasingly being poached by other healthcare providers.

In addition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get young people interested in training in this career. From the perspective of the KVB board of directors, this will lead to bottlenecks and restrictions in outpatient care and is already noticeable today in maintaining the operation of the KVB's own on-call practices.

The board of directors of the KVB, Dr. Christian Pfeiffer, Dr. Peter Heinz and Dr. Claudia Ritter-Rupp explained: “The MFA play an indispensable role in patient care and are an important support for the colleagues in the practices. They not only take on organizational and administrative tasks, but are also in direct contact with the patients. Without their many years of experience and specialist knowledge, a smooth practice cannot be guaranteed. In this respect, from our point of view, it is unacceptable if aggressive recruiting is carried out and MFAs are specifically poached from practices.”

The KVB board appeals to those responsible at other institutions to refrain from unfair attempts to recruit people and to refrain from competition between practices and other service providers for the MFA. Suitable skilled workers are urgently needed everywhere. That is why it is also necessary that every institution takes part in their training. Instead of creating a competitive situation here, political decision-makers at the federal level are called upon to take appropriate measures to address the shortage of skilled workers in the healthcare system. Ensuring comprehensive, high-quality medical care for patients should be the top priority.