Munich – The shortage of doctors is one of the major challenges for medical care: In an aging society, more people are ill. At the same time, doctors are also getting older. Accordingly, many practices close. In some regions, particularly in rural areas, this development has already resulted in many people no longer being able to find a family doctor’s practice nearby. The supply project “VERAH am Ort” can offer a solution for the affected regions. The first pilot practices are now starting in the Rhön-Grabfeld district in Lower Franconia. The SBK Siemens company health insurance company accompanied the implementation of the project.
VERAH on site: local contact point for uncomplicated medical help
The idea is simple: the care assistants are on site at fixed times in the practice. Equipped with the appropriate communication technology, they can, if necessary, call in the resident doctors in the area and transmit vital data of the patients. The result is a win-win-win for everyone involved: local people can find medical help within a reasonable distance. This is particularly beneficial for those with limited mobility. The VERAH experience an appreciation of the still new job profile. And the general practitioners in the region can also guarantee care for regions that are further away at a reasonable cost.
Franziska Beckebans, Head of Customer Management and Supply at SBK: “VERAH on site is a project close to our hearts. Because it is a promising solution for the undersupply of general practitioners in rural areas. The care project can mean an improvement in care for many insured persons. However, it is also clear that the project can only be one element in countering the increasing shortage of skilled workers in medicine. We urgently need long-term strategies to secure the health care situation for the insured in rural areas.”
The pilot project, which the University of Bayreuth is scientifically accompanying, starts today with an official ceremony in Stockheim. The state of Bavaria is financing the start-up phase with EUR 0.5 million.
The SBK Siemens company health insurance company is the largest company health insurance company in Germany and is one of the 20 largest statutory health insurance companies. As an open, nationwide health insurance company, it insures more than a million people and looks after over 100,000 corporate customers in Germany – with more than 1,800 employees in 86 branches.
For more than 100 years, SBK has been personally and committed to the interests of the insured. It positions itself as a pioneer for genuine quality competition in statutory health insurance. From SBK’s point of view, the prerequisite for this is more transparency for the insured – about relevant financial key figures, but also about the willingness to perform, advice and service quality of health insurance companies. In the interests of the customer, SBK also combines the best of the personal and digital world and actively promotes digitization in the healthcare sector.