Berlin – Ulrike Elsner, CEO of the Association of Replacement Insurance Funds, is calling for more patient participation. V. (vdek) on the occasion of World Patient Safety Day on September 17th, which was held under the motto “More safety. For and with patients.” stands. To this end, it is important to involve patients in the treatment process on an equal footing and to carry out regular surveys.
Involve patients in treatment processes
“Patients and their relatives are often the only ones who know all the steps in the treatment process. That’s why we should listen more to the voices of these people,” said Elsner. This includes discussing various therapy options with patients at the start of treatment and planning the treatments taking their needs into account.
In this sense, surveys of patients and their relatives must also be more established and made publicly accessible. The Institute for Quality Assurance and Transparency in Healthcare (IQTIG) has already developed questionnaires for individual treatments and clinical pictures such as kidney replacement therapy or outpatient psychotherapy. In addition, the nationwide survey of patients with stents or cardiac catheters has been running since July 2022. This is an important start and must now be expanded to other forms of therapy. “We have long been calling for the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) to finally introduce corresponding binding guidelines,” said Elsner. “The concerns raised here by the medical profession and especially by psychotherapists are incomprehensible to us. The patient perspective is an essential component for assessing the quality of care.”
Take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization
The CEO sees the current legal initiatives for digitalization as positive. The binding electronic patient file (ePA) provided for in the Digital Act (DigiG) means that all relevant health data is available in one place and the care process becomes more transparent. The Health Data Use Act (GDNG), which is also planned, is intended to enable health insurance companies to have greater access to health data than before and thus warn their insured persons about serious health risks. For Elsner, both laws make an important contribution to patient safety.
Commitment of the substitute health insurance companies in the area of patient safety
Replacement insurance companies and vdek are strongly committed to patient safety and, for example, have published a white paper on patient safety together with the Patient Safety Action Alliance (APS). Among other things, this defines an expanded understanding of patient safety and calls for a patient safety culture in all healthcare facilities. The vdek also significantly supports the educational campaign #DeutschlandErkenntSepsis, which draws attention to the often underestimated risk of sepsis (also known colloquially as blood poisoning).
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 more than 28 million people in Germany:
– Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), Twitter: @TK_Presse
– BARMER, Twitter: @BARMER_Presse
– DAK-Gesundheit, Twitter: @DAKGesundheit
– KKH Commercial Health Insurance, Twitter: @KKH_Politics
– hkk – Handelskrankenkasse, Twitter: @hkk_Presse
– HEK – Hanseatic Health Insurance Fund, Twitter: @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).
More than 300 employees work at the vdek headquarters in Berlin. In the individual federal states, 15 state representatives with a total of around 400 and more than 30 employees in the care bases ensure the regional presence of the replacement funds.