However, this is “the crux of the matter,” she criticized. Such a transformation cannot succeed without significant investments, emphasized Johna. “Anyone who thinks that you can simply redistribute the available funds and grant surcharges in a few places and then it would fit is naïve to say the least,” Johna told the “Rheinische Post”. Even the merging of departments is not available for free if conversions become necessary and staff have to be hired.
This is especially true for mergers. Even the settlement of a hospital site requires financing. Longer distances to individual locations would then have to be bridged by the rescue services, Johna pointed out. The chairwoman of the doctors’ union criticized the lack of technical equipment and staff here. This aspect has so far been completely ignored.
After months of wrangling, the federal and state governments agreed on the cornerstones of a hospital reform on Monday. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) spoke of a “revolution” after a meeting with his colleagues from the federal states in Berlin. Both sides want to work out a concrete draft law over the summer, which is to come into force on January 1, 2024.
The reform is intended to reorganize the financing of hospitals by moving away from the system of payment according to treated cases and to increase quality through greater medical specialization. The smaller hospitals in particular should offer fewer services in the future and limit themselves to those interventions that they are good at. In the future, 60 percent of the costs of clinics should be covered by provision flat rates, said Lauterbach.
