A new law aims to prevent hospital deaths in Germany and improve the treatment of seriously ill patients. But the project has been on hold for months.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has accused the Union-led states of blocking a law for more transparency and billions in aid for Germany’s hospitals. “Additional funds of six to eight billion euros would be available to hospitals if this law were passed,” said the SPD politician in Berlin.
“If we don’t get this law enforced, then hospital deaths in Germany will be difficult to prevent in many cases,” said Lauterbach. In addition to the billions in aid, the core of the project is the creation of a “transparency directory”: Patients should receive information online about how much experience a clinic has with certain services, what the staffing ratio is for specialists, for example, and what the complication rate is. The law is intended to accompany the planned major reform of hospital remuneration. This reform has also developed into a deadlock between the federal and state governments over the past year – Lauterbach wants to discuss it with representatives of the municipal umbrella associations on Monday.
Lauterbach: Avert bankruptcies and develop major reforms
In the case of the Transparency Act, the Federal Council decided in November to send it to the joint mediation committee of the Federal Council and the State Chamber. Lauterbach criticized that it was not on the agenda there because the Union states stood in the way. A lot depends on “this important law” being passed at the next Federal Council meeting on February 2nd. “I can therefore only appeal to the Union-led countries not to block this law.”
Lauterbach said: “We have the opportunity here to avert bankruptcies and to develop a major hospital reform, in which some EU countries have played a leading role.” North Rhine-Westphalia’s Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) played a key role in developing the planned clinic reform.
This actual hospital reform is intended to relieve hospitals of the financial pressure to treat more and more patients with lucrative procedures for reasons of revenue through a fundamentally different payment. Last summer, the federal and state governments mostly agreed on the basic principles of the reform – but after state criticism on certain points, further consultations were to follow. A bill should then be presented.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
