Clinics in need: Waiting for hospital reform? It does not work!
05.04.2023 16:43
On April 3, 2023, the Saxony-Anhalt Hospital Society published the results of a quick survey on the economic situation of hospitals in Saxony-Anhalt. Conclusion: The situation is worse than ever.
24 hospitals with a total of 10,177 beds took part in the survey. This corresponds to 68 percent of the beds in Saxony-Anhalt. 71 % of the houses rate their current economic situation as bad or rather bad, 4 % even rate it as very bad. Over half of the hospitals expect a negative profit and loss statement for 2022. Only 25 % expect a barely balanced result, which is mainly due to the Corona compensation payments made available in 2022. Without this, significantly more hospitals would have a negative result. The situation will be even more dramatic in 2023. Almost all hospitals in Saxony-Anhalt expect their financial situation to deteriorate significantly in the current year. The main reasons cited are the uncovered general price, energy and personnel cost developments as well as loss of revenue due to bed closures due to the shortage of skilled workers.
Estimated deficit of 450 million in 2023
The deficits in the hospitals in Saxony-Anhalt are enormous: in 2022, there was a cost-revenue gap of 194 million euros across the country. The deficit will double to around 450 million euros in 2023. In addition, the relief promised by Federal Health Minister Lauterbach last year for the massive increase in energy costs is not reaching the hospitals. Nationwide, 4.5 billion euros are available to finance these costs. The hospitals in Saxony-Anhalt would actually be entitled to around 137 million euros from October 2022 to April 2024. However, the conditions for accessing these funds were designed in such a way that the majority of clinics come away empty-handed despite the sharp increase in energy costs. Of the approximately 21 million euros that would be available to hospitals in our state from the pot for 2022, only 8 hospitals would receive a total of only 888,586.50 euros.
The aid recently made available by the state in the amount of 21 million euros, which is expected to be paid out as a flat rate for beds, is simply the result of a redistribution of funds: the flat rate hospital funding was halved from around 43 million euros in 2022 to now 21 million euros in 2023.
“All of this is alarming,” warns KGSAN chairman Prof. Dr. med. Wolfgang Schütte, “The economic situation is extremely tense and will continue to worsen if no countermeasures are taken.”
Acute need for action
The hope that a future hospital reform, as Minister Lauterbach is planning, would improve the current situation is naive. “It’s like waiting for Godot,” says Schütte. “The need for action is acute, the necessary emergency aid must flow now.” The Saxony-Anhalt Hospital Association is calling for a preliminary law for the federal government’s planned hospital reform before the summer. “This could stabilize the economic situation in the short term and eliminate the structural underfinancing until the reform takes effect,” confirms KGSAN managing director Dr. Gösta Heelemann, “Structural planning must not be left to the insolvency administrator.” The emergency aid must compensate for the massive increases in energy and material costs that have not been refinanced. Tariff increases must also be fully covered. In addition, before introducing new forms of compensation, the systematic underfunding in the existing compensation system must be permanently eliminated. This not only affects the structural underfinancing in the DRG system but also the inadequate investment financing.