Stuttgart – Start of the 96th Conference of Health Ministers (GMK) in Friedrichshafen: The state ministers and senators responsible for health have made important decisions on current health policy issues.
The current challenges in the health care system, such as the need for skilled workers and urgently needed course setting in the area of digitization and artificial intelligence – in addition to the hospital structure reform, these are important topics of the two-day Health Ministers’ Conference (GMK), which started today in Friedrichshafen and will continue until tomorrow, Thursday (July 6th). meets. At the invitation of the current GMK chairman, Baden-Württemberg’s Health Minister Manne Lucha, the state ministers and senators responsible for health met together with Federal Health Minister Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach on this year’s face-to-face meeting at Lake Constance.
Exchange and advice on current topics in healthcare
“We have two intensive days during which we set the course for an innovative and sustainable health policy. I would like to thank everyone involved for the good, trusting and collegial exchange. Of course we are still struggling with the details of the hospital reform, which will dominate our deliberations tomorrow. We have therefore already discussed many other current health policy issues today and made important decisions,” said Lucha on Wednesday (July 5) in Friedrichshafen.
Hamburg’s Senator for Health, Melanie Schlotzhauer, emphasized: “Today’s consultations were very productive. We focused on the topic of securing the need for skilled workers in the healthcare sector. From the perspective of the federal states, a wide range of instruments must be used and also reflected in federal law. This ranges from incentives for career dropouts to return to work, to incentives for part-time employees to increase the number of weekly working hours, to easier recognition of foreign professional qualifications in the healthcare sector.”
Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek emphasized: “The states are united by the common spirit of ensuring the best care for the people in the state. In order to achieve this, it is important to think about all measures from the needs of the people in order to ensure high-quality care. We are facing a variety of challenges, a central issue is the shortage of skilled workers in nursing. Our goal is to improve working conditions. To do this, we sometimes have to leave the beaten track and, for example, think about the question of tax exemption for nursing staff, how salaries can be improved or how we can ensure affordable housing. In the future, Bavaria will also test jumper pools in nursing in order to improve the work situation. I would like the federal government to tackle the pressing issues as a whole more consistently.”
The most important decisions at a glance
Secure the need for skilled workers in the healthcare sector
Competent healthcare professionals are the most important factor for successful and stable healthcare. “Everyone involved – the federal government, we states and employers – must work intensively to ensure that more people take up professions in the healthcare sector and, above all, stay in the industry,” emphasized GMK Chairman Lucha. What is now important, for example, is that there are no school fees in all areas, incentives for those leaving the profession to return to work and for part-time employees to increase the number of weekly working hours, easier recognition of foreign professional qualifications in the healthcare sector, less bureaucracy in nursing and less temporary work in nursing. “All of this is to be regulated by federal law,” said Lucha. “Today we identified concrete options for action and made proposals that the federal government must implement now – the only important thing is that it happens quickly.”
Improving the care of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) / chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
The federal states are calling on the Federal Ministry of Health to create a Germany-wide network of competence centers and interdisciplinary outpatient clinics for patients with long-term consequences of COVID-19 and ME/CFS. “The suffering of those affected is immense, and the number of people affected is increasing nationwide – we urgently need to help them better,” said GMK Chairman Lucha. “We need more knowledge about the clinical picture and in particular about diagnosis and therapy.”
Artificial intelligence in healthcare
At least since the release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has gained a lot of attention. “AI will not only fundamentally change the economy and society, but can also make our healthcare system more crisis-proof and patient-oriented,” explained Lucha. He was satisfied that the federal states followed a suggestion from Baden-Württemberg and made a corresponding fundamental decision on AI. “In this way, we want to ensure that Germany does not lose touch with the world when it comes to AI, but instead becomes a pioneer and motor for the whole of Europe,” Lucha continued.
AI has great potential to improve medicine and care and to relieve specialists. However, AI applications often remain in the research context and are not ready for the market, so that the potential for improvement, for example in diagnostics, treatment documentation and therapy, cannot develop. In their decision, the federal states therefore emphasize the opportunities of AI and the urgently needed transfer to everyday care.
Health data use – further development of the electronic patient file
The federal states welcome the digitization strategy for healthcare and nursing that Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach presented in March. The electronic patient file (ePA) is a key point here. “People will only accept digitization if it is convenient and easily accessible, i.e. very easy to use,” said GMK Chairman Manne Lucha. In order to guarantee this, particularly with electronic patient records, the federal states are calling for a support program for accompanied use, which serves to ensure that patients, doctors and other user groups experience the advantages of the EHR and are strengthened in their digital competence. “The corona pandemic has shown that there is an enormous backlog in the digitization of the healthcare system in Germany. We need a lot more speed here,” Lucha demanded. Under these auspices, the federal states will also actively accompany the legislative processes for the Health Data Utilization Act and the Digital Act.
The Conference of Health Ministers (GMK)
The GMK is the ministerial conference of the health ministers and senators of the federal states. The Federal Minister of Health is a permanent guest. The presidency rotates annually. After Baden-Württemberg, Schleswig-Holstein will take over the presidency in 2024.
All decisions of the conference can be found on the website of the Conference of Health Ministers.
Photos from the GMK are available for download for editorial use in our media library: Media library: Conference of Health Ministers