Doctors demand: Date of schedules should pay up to 100 euros

Statutory doctors require a penalty fee for patients who have the booked doctor’s appointments burst. The spokesman for the Federal Association of Pediatricians, Jakob Mask, said “Bild”: “It is no longer to be accepted that patients do not make appointments bindingly and do not notice them.”

This means that they take away urgently needed appointments. “In order to sensitize patients, a failure fee of up to 100 euros, depending on the length of the scheduled appointment, would be required,” said Mask.

The chairman of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Andreas Gassen, said that 10 to 20 percent of the posted doctor’s appointments were no longer perceived.

He called for a failure fee for patients “in the amount of 10 to 20 euros, which is now common in almost all areas of life”. This fee for the non -appearance of patients should be paid by the health insurance companies, said Gassen.

The discussion about penalty fees for unused doctor’s appointments comes up again and again. For example, Gassen had already said in September: “A shortage fee to be paid by the health insurance companies would be appropriate if their insured person made appointments and then do not perceive them in an unconditional manner.”

In the ongoing coalition negotiations of the Union and the SPD, the health group had dealt with the problem that many legally insured patients were difficult to get to specialist dates.

The working group proposed a “binding primary doctor system”. The family doctor should be the first point of contact for patients and only forward them to specialist practices if necessary. The Union and SPD are promising from the measures as a whole, faster appointments and more targeted care.