If something goes wrong in practices and clinics, it can have significant consequences. In order to record vulnerabilities, there should now be a reporting option for everyone.
A new reporting portal for insured persons is intended to collect critical incidents and problems during treatment and evaluate them for general improvements in care. “The patient perspective is extremely valuable in order to systematically identify and reduce systemic risk of errors,” said the Federal Government’s patient representative, Stefan Schwartze (SPD), at the launch of the service in Berlin.
On the “More patient safety” portal of the Association of Replacement Insurance Funds (vdek), insured people from all health insurance companies and relatives can report online cases in which something went badly or particularly well in practices, clinics and other facilities. The information should be anonymized and exemplary cases published.
Such reporting systems are proven and an important part of quality and risk management in healthcare facilities, said Ulrike Elsner, CEO of the replacement insurance association, which includes, among others, the Techniker Krankenkasse, Barmer and DAK-Gesundheit. However, the knowledge and experience of insured persons and relatives have hardly been used so far. They are often the only ones who experience the entire treatment process.
From the individual case to the general
The reports are to be analyzed by experts from the German Society for Patient Safety and then prepared in an anonymous form – for example with “Tips of the Month” or a “Case of the Month”. Managing director Marcus Rall spoke of a kind of “early warning system”. It is not about pursuing individual cases, but rather about learning from individual cases for everyone, even before damage occurs. Positive examples are also in view.
According to the information, the portal is initially designed as a pilot project until the end of 2025 and has a budget of around 300,000 euros. It is expected that 600 cases will be processed. Patient representative Schwartze said the portal is not a replacement for individual complaints. But it provides the basis for the entire system to learn.
If insured persons suspect treatment errors, they can also report to doctors’ experts and arbitrators and to the health insurance companies, who will then commission reports.
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.
