Catholic Hospital Association of Germany eV KKVD
Berlin (ots)
Today, the states of Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein presented a legal opinion on hospital reform. It comes to the conclusion that the proposals of the federal government commission cannot be implemented in accordance with the constitution in their current form.
The Catholic Hospital Association of Germany (kkvd) welcomes this clarification and emphasizes that the sovereignty of the federal states for hospital planning in the forthcoming reforms must be preserved not only for legal but also for practical care reasons. The kkvd also presents its requirements for the hospital reform in a key issues paper.
Supply structures vary greatly from region to region
Bernadette Rümmelin, Managing Director of the kkvd: “The sovereignty of the federal states for hospital planning must also be preserved in the upcoming hospital reform. This is not only for legal reasons, but also for practical reasons. The care structures have developed very differently from region to region. In many places, not large hospitals, Instead, hospital associations and networks provide the population with reliable, high-quality care.
Only hospital planning that is the responsibility of and designed by the federal states can do justice to this. Where uniform national guidelines are indispensable, the federal states must have sufficient room for maneuver in order to adapt them to regional conditions.”
In its key issues paper, the kkvd proposes making quality and accessibility the central benchmarks of the reform project. In the future, the basic building block for hospital planning at state level should be service groups.
Uniform supply levels impractical and not required
“The service groups instrument allows the care structures to be reorganized based on regional needs and to increase quality. A radical cure for the hospital landscape, which would lead to high conversion and development costs, is neither necessary nor expedient.
Setting up the reform on the basis of uniform federal structural specifications for care levels is impractical and not necessary. There is no added value for patients to centralize medically independent specialist areas in a mega-clinic. But it would lead to longer distances for those seeking help and employees. In addition, the legal opinion presented today shows that such a structural requirement by the federal government would also not be constitutional.
In order for the hospital reform to succeed at all, however, the acute economic hardship of the hospitals must first be alleviated. To do this, the federal government must introduce further financial aid for hospitals with an interim law. Even the 2.5 billion euros to be paid out as a lump sum to compensate for inflation will not be enough to stabilize the clinics sufficiently. If the cold structural change continues unchecked, the reform will come too late for a number of hospitals, even though they are actually important for the care of the people,” concludes Rümmelin.
The kkvd’s “key issues paper for hospital reform” is available online here: www.kkvd.de/eckpunkte-klinikreform
background
The Catholic Hospital Association of Germany e. V. (kkvd) represents 273 hospitals at 352 locations nationwide as well as 54 rehabilitation facilities with a total of 207,000 employees. 3 million inpatients are treated here every year. With sales of 17 billion euros per year, the Catholic hospitals are also an important economic factor.
Press contact:
Catholic Hospital Association of Germany (kkvd)
Herbert Möller, spokesman
Phone 030-2408368-13
Mobil 0175-2297478
E-Mail [email protected]
Original content from: Catholic Hospital Association of Germany eV KKVD, transmitted by news aktuell