- Minister calls for change of guidelines for children's clinics
Lower Saxony's Health Minister Andreas Philippi is calling for improvements to the staffing requirements for children's hospitals. He said it's not clear why specialized pediatric surgeries currently require a minimum of five specialists, while areas with much sicker patients, like neurosurgery, only need three. The minister stressed that the current requirements are not feasible due to a lack of specialized staff. There are six specialized pediatric surgery departments in Lower Saxony. Today, he will meet with Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) at the children's hospital on the Bult in Hannover.
Among other things, Philippi is pushing for reliable healthcare in rural areas as part of the planned federal hospital reform. "The quality requirements proposed by the federal government are not feasible for many specialized clinics and are also not meaningful in content," he said. Therefore, some of the proposals could negatively impact healthcare in rural areas. He plans to discuss this with Lauterbach.
Despite ongoing resistance from the states, Lauterbach (SPD) introduced the reform in the Bundestag. The draft laws aim to reduce financial pressure and establish uniform quality regulations. To do this, the payment system will be changed to include flat rates for treatment cases. In the future, hospitals will receive 60 percent of their payment for maintaining certain offers. The financing by health insurance companies will be based on more precisely defined "performance groups" that also set minimum requirements.
Children's hospitals in Lower Saxony, like the one on the Bult in Hannover, could benefit from Philippi's calls for improved staffing requirements. The lack of specialized pediatric surgeons is making it challenging for children's hospitals to meet the current requirements.
