Edgar Franke, SPD, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health. /image alliance, photo library, Felix Zahn
Berlin – The parliamentary state secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), Edgar Franke (SPD), “look again in peace” and evaluate “carefully”.
In his remarks at the Spring Festival of the Replacement Fund Association (vdek) said last night that it is necessary to pay special attention to regions with excess supply and analyze the effects on those regions, which also applies to the planned annual fixed rates;
The plan is to implement the much-announced de-budgeting in the Health Care Strengthening Law (GVSG), which is expected to be approved by the cabinet in the coming weeks. In the reform process, Franke recognized the importance of the Hospital Care Improvement Act (KHVVG).
“Karl Lauterbach was able to achieve success here today with the cabinet’s decision,” said Franke, who replaced the minister’s planned greeting. He understands the outrage of those involved in the healthcare system regarding some of the law’s regulations, as well as criticism of financing through a transformation fund.
“We spend more than €100 billion on hospital care every year and the quality is only average compared to Europe,” says Franke. This must change. “I have visited 70 hospitals in the name of the Lord in the last year and a half that were not always subject to the entertainment tax,” Franke continued.
The Transparency Atlas, which will be presented at the end of the week, is, therefore, an important step towards greater quality transparency for policyholders. The financial structure of the transformation fund was chosen in this way in the KHVVG because the budgetary situation does not allow for any other option. “We will see what the budget will look like in 2026,” Franke continued. In general, clinical reform has been delayed too long by previous governments.
Funding to cover medical costs for citizens benefit recipients has also been delayed. Here – as provided for in the coalition agreement – financing from tax revenues was foreseen. “If we had eleven billion more, we could do some things better,” Franke said. Here too he hopes for a better budgetary situation in the coming years.
He shares this hope with the president of this year’s Conference of Health Ministers (GMK), the Minister of Justice and Health of Schleswig-Holstein, Kerstin von der Decken. According to her indications, ministers will also address the issue of better financing of uninsured benefits in mid-June, she said at the health insurance association’s spring festival. Another theme of this year’s GMK conference will be the insurance exemption of so-called pool doctors in emergency outpatient services. Numerous countries are striving for change here, von der Decken announced.
However, “this year too,” hospital reform will dominate the GMK conference, she said. “We actually wanted this to be completed by the end of 2023, but unfortunately the federal government abandoned the common path to reform and did not even follow it with other actors,” said von der Decken. As president of GMK, she now wants to lead KHVVG to success. “Because we need the law, we as countries agree to it,” von der Decken emphasized.
Von der Decken expressed her indignation with the behavior of the Federal Ministry of Health towards the states: “We, the states, received the draft, which was already circulating in the media, on April 17th. By April 30th, we will write a unified statement with constructive criticism and suggestions for changes. This shows that we are concerned with the issue and not with party politics.” The states expected “our clear demands to be incorporated.”
As a lawyer, she predicted that there would be legal action against the KHVVG and that it would even end up in the Federal Constitutional Court. Her state colleague Judith Gerlach (CSU) from Bavaria also emphasized again in interviews that she wanted to take legal action against the law.
In the course of hospital reform, there must also be a reform of emergency and rescue services, demanded Ulrike Elsner, president of the vdek. The rescue service falls under Book V of the Social Security Code to better structure financing.
Vdek President Uwe Klemens also criticized the current health policy. “Politicians want to determine more and more details and ignore the fact that we have an autonomous health system. Policy defines the structure and self-administration defines the details,” says Klemens. “Politicians forget that laws are how our money is spent, contributions from policyholders and employers,” says Klemens. © bee/aerzteblatt.de