Criticism of online atlas for clinics: Fear of damage to reputation
The state hospital association fears that the new quality atlas for hospitals will damage the reputation of individual hospitals in Brandenburg. "The transparency directory could damage the reputation of many hospitals," said the chairman of the association, Detlef Troppens, to the German Press Agency in Potsdam. Patients will soon be able to compare the services and treatment quality of hospitals in Germany using a state-run online atlas.
Troppens believes that the portal, which is due to launch in May 2024, could jeopardize the acceptance of smaller hospitals. The Managing Director of Oberhavel Kliniken GmbH believes that it will create a kind of ranking and categorization of good and bad hospitals. "Lauterbach wants to create the facts that lower-ranking hospitals will also be dragged down in terms of their reputation."
What is the directory supposed to show? Specifically, the portal should show whether a hospital offers a service - including a specialist department. The draft provides for 65 such service groups, which describe medical services in more detail - such as infectiology, ophthalmology, urology or intensive care medicine. Data on treatment experience (case numbers), staffing ratios for specialists and nurses as well as complication rates for selected procedures should also be clearly accessible.
Hospital association fears hospital deaths
Troppens criticized the "arbitrary allocation of service groups", which did not automatically reflect the quality of hospitals. The transparency law is intended to supplement a planned major hospital reform with new regulations on financing, the main features of which had been agreed by a majority of the federal and state governments. Fears have been voiced that the reform plans could lead to the death of hospitals.
"Hospitals will go under in the next few years. I see black for small clinics in rural areas," said Troppens. "Hospitals in metropolitan regions are more likely to meet the quality requirements and qualifications than those in rural areas." He hopes that the federal states will vote against the reform. There are more than 50 hospitals in Brandenburg.
Hospitals are in financial difficulties
Many hospitals throughout Germany are in a bad economic situation. Until a reform can even take effect, hospitals are calling for a rapid additional financial injection from the federal government.
"You can see that the hospitals' equipment is falling into disrepair," said Troppens. First, cosmetic repairs are no longer carried out, then the equipment suffers and there is a lack of money for investments.
In Brandenburg, for example, the Elbe-Elster-Klinikum with three locations is in financial difficulties. Wards are being closed. The hospital recently announced that inpatient care will be largely concentrated at two locations from June 2024. The reasons given were the inadequate remuneration of hospital services, but also the fact that the Minister of Health, Lauterbach, has so far refused to fund hospitals until the hospital reform is implemented. Spremberg Hospital (Spree-Neiße district) had applied for planned insolvency as protective shield proceedings in 2022 and had drawn up a restructuring plan to save itself.
The financing reform planned by Lauterbach essentially envisages changing the remuneration system with flat rates for treatment cases. In order to avoid having to rely on more and more cases, clinics are to receive a larger share of remuneration simply for providing services. In his view, this should relieve clinics of financial pressure. Lauterbach had said that the reform would guarantee the existence of smaller hospitals that are still needed.
The chairman of the hospital association also expressed concerns about the impact of the new online transparency directory on the health of smaller hospitals. "This directory could negatively impact the health of many smaller hospitals," Troppens stated. Additionally, the quality atlas for hospitals may lead to a significant shift in patient preferences, potentially causing a strain on some hospitals that struggle to maintain high standards.
Source: www.dpa.com
