Berlin – This Wednesday, the Health Committee of the German Bundestag will discuss the draft law on the Hospital Transparency Act, the focus of which is an information portal on the quality of hospitals for patients. The German Evangelical Hospital Association (DEKV) demands that the quality of results of hospital treatment must be correctly represented through mandatory risk adjustment.
Christoph Radbruch, Chairman of the DEKV: “Certain vulnerable patient groups, such as patients with many secondary illnesses and patients with disabilities, have an increased risk of complications. This fact must be taken into account in the transparency portal through risk adjustment. Otherwise, hospitals that treat many of these patients will be worse off in terms of quality compared to those that mainly care for younger and healthier patients. This affects Protestant hospitals; they are particularly committed to caring for vulnerable patients. If the risk is not adjusted, the function of the portal to guide patients to the best hospital for them is not guaranteed.”
The German Evangelical Hospital Association (DEKV) represents one in nine German hospitals with 199 Protestant clinics at 273 locations. The Protestant hospitals care for more than 2 million inpatients and more than 3.5 million outpatients every year. That’s more than one in 10 fully inpatient patients nationwide. With over 123,000 employees and a turnover of more than €10 billion, they are an important economic factor. The DEKV is the industry association of Protestant hospitals and a member of the Evangelical Work for Diakonie and Development eV as well as the board and presidium of the German Hospital Association. The DEKV is particularly committed to a future-oriented and innovative hospital policy with a variety of providers and quality competition, reliable framework conditions for hospital financing, modernization of the health professions and consistent patient orientation in care.
Chairman: Head Christoph Radbruch, Magdeburg, deputy. Chairwoman: Andrea Trenner, Berlin, Treasurer: Dr. Holger Stiller, Düsseldorf, association director: Melanie Kanzler, Berlin.