Professional association sees urological patient care at risk

09.03.2021 10:23

“In Corona times, it should be clear to both politicians and health insurance companies that hygiene must be given priority - especially in view of the fact that medical practices will soon be vaccinating en masse against Covid-19,” explains Dr. Axel Schroeder, President of the Professional Association of German Urologists eV in Berlin at the beginning of March.

“It is absolutely incomprehensible why the health insurance companies' stalling tactics on the hygiene issue are tolerated by politicians and professional representatives.” Schroeder criticizes the previously inappropriate reimbursement of hygiene costs in urological practices. A general hygiene surcharge was already promised during the negotiations on the reform of the EBM (uniform assessment standard) in 2019 and was to be introduced in April 2020. The Corona protective shield for practices does not cover these services either. “We urologists do not want and must not endanger our patients, neither by falling below a hygiene standard nor by omitting important examinations or surgical treatments,” continued the BvDU President. The Extended Assessment Committee (E-BA) wants to discuss the topic again on March 17, 2021.

Practices have been emphasizing hygiene for years

Stricter guidelines for hygiene in medical device reprocessing have been in effect since 2012. They cause enormous costs, especially for outpatient practices. These costs are only reflected by increasing the point value and are therefore not actually absorbed. “Under Corona, spending on all hygienic items has increased massively again - for example, sterile gloves have seen price increases of up to 200 percent,” emphasizes BvDU hygiene expert Dr. Peter Kollenbach. “In addition, the considerable additional effort for hygiene training for doctors and medical specialists, practice inspections or validations is currently neither reflected in the EBM nor paid for as a flat rate,” explains the head of the quality management committee and main committee spokesman for the professional association.

Urologists demand an effort-based representation of hygiene costs

“Hygiene does not tolerate compromises, and therefore also their counter-financing,” emphasizes BvDU President Schroeder. “We urologists stand for high-quality and hygienic patient care. It must not be the case that this valuable asset is jeopardized by the lack of reimbursement by the health insurance companies.”