Structural change in the hospital landscape must be initiated now
23.11.2022 15:12
In view of the urgently needed further development of quality and security of supply, IKK classic is eagerly awaiting the presentation of the key points for future hospital care by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.
“It is crucial for us that patients receive optimal care on site. This doesn’t necessarily have to be in the hospital, but can also be in a well-equipped regional outpatient health center,” says Frank Hippler, CEO of IKK classic, thereby reinforcing the call for hospital planning that primarily takes into account regional needs, accessibility, quality and outpatient potential taken into account. “Especially with a view to increasing outpatient care, it is not enough to introduce day treatments at inpatient prices in hospitals,” emphasizes Hippler. “Instead, we demand that the possibilities of outpatient surgery be consistently used and that the AOP catalog be comprehensively expanded.” He also calls for the cross-sector perspective to also be taken into account for psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care. “The goal should be sector-independent care that is tailored to the needs of patients.”
The IKK classic will actively and actively support the necessary structural reform of the German hospital landscape. The health insurance company places a particular focus on hospital planning in the federal states. “Some federal states, e.g. B. in North Rhine-Westphalia are currently taking the first steps towards moving away from purely bed-oriented hospital planning. We very much welcome these developments. “We support the concentration process and a performance- and quality-oriented planning approach with binding minimum quantities, especially for metropolitan areas,” says Frank Hippler.
For a needs-based and patient-oriented restructuring of the hospital landscape, a stronger link with the outpatient sector and more binding cooperation between hospitals are essential. “Especially here, increasing digitalization has potential that needs to be leveraged in terms of networking, data and information exchange, and telemedicine,” says Hippler. IKK classic is therefore committed to a constantly advancing digitalization process in the healthcare system.
From IKK classic's point of view, it is now important that the legislature does not stop halfway, but rather thinks about outpatient and emergency care at the same time. “It's no use reorganizing hospitals without thinking about how patients use medical services,” says Hippler. For true cross-sector care, hospital, statutory health care and emergency care need to be integrated equally.
Finally, treasurer Hippler criticizes the current approach of politicians in developing the reforms. “The key points of the hospital reform are being developed by medical specialists at the green table. Neither the German Hospital Association nor the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians nor the health insurance companies were involved in advance. In order to make reforms sustainable and efficient, early involvement of self-administration and those affected in the healthcare system is urgently required.”