/ alliance image, epd image, Tim Wegner
Berlin – In view of the growing challenges in the field of care, the Federal Association AOK for the development of social nursing care insurance (SPV). In a position paper, the association calls for fundamental structural reforms to strengthen local care and make it more responsive to needs.
“The guiding principle and principle of the position paper is that care takes place locally. Most people in need of care want to be cared for in a familiar environment and this wish must be prioritized in structural reforms,” emphasized AOK board chairwoman Carola Reimann.
The basic requirement for implementing suitable solutions is significantly closer cooperation between municipalities, health insurance companies and nursing care providers. Reimann criticized local care as having separate responsibilities: “We need cooperation that starts with the planning of the infrastructure and the care structure and that takes into account the knowledge of health insurance companies and nursing care providers about the needs of the local population as early as possible.”
The position paper also advocates that regional care offers should be better tailored to needs and that the approval of providers should depend on local demand. In order to strengthen the self-determination of those in need of care, the association also aims to make benefit legislation more flexible by introducing individual cash budgets and benefits in kind.
The numerous claims for previous benefits should be combined into a basic budget (cash benefits) and a budget for benefits in kind. It should be possible to use it regardless of where the service is provided (but depending on the level of care). Supply structures should be better integrated by eliminating sectoral boundaries.
The position paper also emphasizes the need for more prevention – both before and after the need for care has already arisen. The Federal Association AOK proposes, among other things, to convert short-term care into a full service entitlement in the sense of resource-oriented nursing and preventive therapeutic care, so that more people can live independently for longer.
In order to close the financing gap and maintain the existing performance level of the SPV partial benefit system, the AOK is in favour of a combination of targeted federal subsidy financing, a boost to SPV partial benefits and the expansion of the system of long-term care funds. In addition, the federal states would have to meet their financial responsibility to cover the investment costs of care facilities. © hil/sb/aha/aerzteblatt.de