/dpa
Berlin – As a consequence of the pool doctors’ decision, the FDP demands Federal Social Court (BSG) an exemption for emergency room doctors of statutory health insurance associations (KVen) from the social security obligation. It therefore agrees with the requirements of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Doctors (KBV) and 17 KV.
The Free Democrats also call for an addition to article 23c, paragraph 2, of the Social Code IV (SGB IV), which defines exceptions to the obligation to pay contributions for emergency doctors in emergency services. It should be complemented by the component “and in the emergency service of statutory health insurance associations”.
The obligation to contribute should therefore be waived if the activity in the KV emergency service is complementary to employment with a regular scope of at least 15 hours per week outside the emergency medical service contract, an activity as a licensed or contracted doctor or as a doctor in a private practice or by doctors as recipients of pension benefits.
In doing so, the FDP agrees word for word with the demands that the KBV and KVen made to the Federal Ministry of Health in February (BMG) presented. CSU politician Stephan Pilsinger had already taken a similar position.
The proposed change to Section 23c SGB IV is necessary “to maintain the attractiveness of this important activity and continue the tried and tested practice with little bureaucracy”, writes the FDP in a position paper. The additional burden in the current situation would also make the establishment less attractive to young doctors in the medium and long term.
“The difficulties in filling new positions that already exist today could become more serious”, he continues. “We cannot waste any more time and, given the urgency of the issue, we must take immediate legislative action.”
There is an acute fear that the current regulatory gap will compromise the guarantee of comprehensive medical care. Patients would have to expect massive restrictions on on-call services, especially at night, with much longer waiting times and shorter opening hours in emergency surgeries.
Furthermore, restrictions on walk-in service would mean that significantly more patients would go to emergency departments, meaning that hospital staff would also have to compensate for restrictions on GP emergency departments.
Particularly in rural areas, the current legal situation is an impossible challenge given the current shortage of doctors. “A practice that has been tried and tested in several federal states over the years is about to end,” writes the FDP.
Federal Ministry of Health and Federal Ministry of Labor (BMG and BMAS) have so far only reacted cautiously to the demands. After the sentence was handed down at the end of October, BMG advised it to wait for the reasons for the sentence to be published before examining possible steps. At the beginning of May – three months after publication – he stated, at the request of the German medical journalkeep checking.
The Medical Association MEDI Baden-Württemberg harshly criticizes this behavior as “political ignorance regarding outpatient care for the population” and warns not to leave the problem aside.
“There has been a limited emergency service in Baden-Württemberg for more than seven months and there have been no proposals for solutions from politicians. This is ignorance to the detriment of outpatient care”, warns President Norbert Smetak and praises the FDP document.
He warns that the currently planned emergency care reform would make the situation enormously worse. “A 24/7 emergency presence is not even remotely viable and is the wish of politicians who have completely lost touch with the reality of our work,” he explains. © lau/aerzteblatt.de