Bundestag passes the Second Care Strengthening Act

The new definition of the need for long-term care and the new assessment procedure will take effect on January 1, 2017. The self-administration in care has more than a year to prepare the changeover to the five new care grades and the new benefit amounts in practice, so that the new benefits will benefit the 2.7 million people in need of care from 2017. Important improvements for those in need of care and their relatives will come into effect on January 1, 2016.

Improvements as of January 1st, 2016:

• Die Counseling for those in need of care and their families will be improved. The long-term care insurance funds designate permanent contact persons for long-term care advice. Caregiving relatives have their own right to advice. The cooperation of all counseling centers on site will be strengthened.
• Die medical care of nursing home residents is improved. The Hospice and Palliative Care Act obliges inpatient care facilities to conclude cooperation agreements with general practitioners, specialists and dentists.
• Access for those in need of care measures of rehabilitation is strengthened by the long-term care insurance funds and medical services having to use effective procedures to clarify the need for rehabilitation.
• The nursing care funds are used to provide primary preventive services required in inpatient care facilities. The aim is to improve the health situation of those in need of care and to strengthen health resources and skills. The long-term care insurance funds will make around 21 million euros available for this in 2016 as a result of the Prevention Act.
• Die Quality measurement, quality assurance and quality representation in nursing is being further developed. The so-called care TÜV is fundamentally revised and, above all, the quality of the results is given greater importance. For this purpose, scientific expertise is used and the decision-making process is accelerated by a quality committee with the ability to make decisions.
• Since the end of 2014, the Federal Government Commissioner for Patients and the Commissioner for Nursing, State Secretary Karl-Josef Laumann, has been supporting the nationwide introduction of a simplified care documentation (structural model) in outpatient and inpatient care facilities. The PSG II makes it clear that the time relief for nursing staff due to the new nursing documentation model must not lead to staff cuts.
• Patients who do not require long-term care receive after hospital treatment right to interim care (home nursing, household help and short-term care) as benefits of statutory health insurance through regulations in the Hospital Structure Act.

On January 1, 2017, the new definition of the need for long-term care will come into force

• The new definition of the need for long-term care creates a Professionally secured and individual assessment and classification in nursing grades. In the future, the care situation of people with mental and emotional impairments, such as dementia, will be taken into account in the assessment in the same way as the care situation of those in need of care with physical limitations. With the new assessment tool, the impairments and existing abilities of those in need of care can be recorded more precisely and the individual care situation can be mapped more precisely in the five new care grades. With long-term care grade 1, many people gain access to long-term care insurance benefits for the first time.
• The new benefit amounts mean for many people higher performance. The noticeable improvements in performance as of January 1, 2015 will be further expanded by the Second Care Strengthening Act. From 2017, an additional five billion euros will be available annually for care. The statutory dynamization of benefits is brought forward by one year to 2017. This means that a further 1.2 billion euros are available for improved long-term care insurance benefits.