Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 11:20 a.m
Berlin – The chairwoman of the Association of Replacement Funds e. V. (vdek), Ulrike Elsner, has called on the federal and state governments to bring the planned hospital reform to a good conclusion in a timely manner and to combine it with a reform of emergency care and the rescue service. “There is no way around reorganizing the hospital landscape based on quality,” she emphasized. However, the debate that has been going on for months gives rise to fears that the clinical reform proposals will be increasingly watered down. In response to scaremongering by some hospital authorities who are causing supply shortages, new financial concessions are being promised. The CEO pointed out that the health insurance companies are already providing significantly more funds in 2024. The state base case value increases by more than five percent. A total of around 99 billion euros will flow into hospitals in 2024 – one in three contribution euros. “In return, the insured can expect a modern structure and no uncertainty.”
Link emergency care and rescue services with clinical reform
Elsner welcomed the Federal Health Minister’s plans for a reform of emergency care. What is particularly good is the plan to expand nationwide integrated emergency centers (INZ), consisting of a hospital emergency room, an emergency service practice of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) and a joint initial assessment center. Until now, these “common counters” where decisions are made about where patients are best treated have been missing. “We need a nationwide roll-out of this concept, also to relieve the burden on hospital emergency departments,” said Elsner.
The planned digital networking of the control centers of the rescue service 112 and the statutory health insurance associations (KVen) 116 117 is good. So far, such structures only exist in Bavaria. In addition, the vdek calls for the control centers to be expanded into health control centers, from where, in addition to emergency services or emergency medical services, other care services such as emergency nursing care or the psychosocial emergency service can also be accessed. Control centers should also be merged to increase quality and efficiency. The government commission recommends a guideline number of one million residents per control center, which would be 84 control centers nationwide. In fact, according to an evaluation by vdek, the value is 229 control centers nationwide.
Catalog of measures for timely scheduling of appointments by medical practices
The replacement insurance companies also see a need for action when it comes to medical appointments for those insured by statutory health insurance. “Insured people repeatedly report that they do not receive timely appointments. We can’t solve the problem with more money,” said Elsner. The replacement health insurance companies have therefore developed a catalog of measures to improve the allocation of appointments. The measures range from expanding consultation hours to more video consultations and mandatory service standards such as online appointments to better accessibility and appointment allocation through the KVen appointment service points on 116 117.
Current photos of the vdek board chairmen for reporting can be found in our image archive.
The Association of Replacement Funds e. V. (vdek) is the advocacy group and service provider for all six replacement funds, which together insure around 29 million people in Germany:
– Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), X: @TK_Presse
– BARMER, X: @BARMER_Presse
– DAK-Gesundheit, X: @DAKGesundheit
– KKH Commercial Health Insurance Fund, X: @KKH_Politics
– hkk – Handelskrankenkasse, X: @hkk_Presse
– HEK – Hanseatic Health Insurance Fund, X: @HEKonline
The Association of Replacement Funds e. V. (vdek) was founded on May 20, 1912 under the name “Association of Commercial Registered Relief Funds (Replacement Funds)” in Eisenach. Until 2009, the association operated under the name “Association of Employee Health Insurance Funds”. V.” (VdAK).
The association’s headquarters with more than 300 employees is in the federal capital Berlin. In the individual federal states, 15 state representations in the state capitals with over 400 employees and more than 30 employees in the care bases ensure the regional presence of the replacement funds.