Specialist societies in the AWMF contribute to the design of the hospital reform

27.04.2023 17:17

80 AWMF specialist societies have taken part in an initiative by the AWMF Ad Hoc Commission on Care Structures. To design the service areas and service groups for hospital reform proposed by the government commission, additions, consolidations and structural requirements were formulated. In many cases there was an interdisciplinary exchange about the necessary structures. The specialist societies in the AWMF are supporting the planned hospital reform with future remuneration in performance groups and a fixed share of maintenance costs.

The ad hoc commission today handed over the first results of the draft to the BMG and the government commission. This also includes a proposal for a definition of specialist clinics, which can serve as an aid to those responsible in the federal states. The scientific medical societies attach great importance to interdisciplinary and interprofessional structures for good collaboration as well as proven quality requirements, such as certified centers for the care of patients with cancer or trauma centers in trauma surgery. The focus is on patient-oriented, scientifically based and resource-conscious care.

Suggestions for service groups and structural requirements for hospital care

The division of hospitals into three levels of care is viewed as positive by the majority of specialist societies. Individual specialist areas are not taken into account (e.g. psychiatry). It still remains to be clarified which structures the care levels are based on and whether individual departments of a hospital can be assigned differently. For example, pediatrics as a separate specialty cannot be appropriately integrated into the overall concept of a general hospital everywhere. Departments and hospitals could be clearly characterized using the different service groups.

There are still many questions unanswered regarding the level 1 care proposed by the government commission with integrated outpatient and inpatient care and a first emergency level. Overcoming the boundaries between outpatient and inpatient care, staffing and defining responsibilities require clear design. The AWMF and the scientific medical societies associated with it will continue to actively participate in the reform.