The statutory health insurers are awaiting a green light from the Bundestag for the hospital reform this Friday, but their expectations for large savings have eased.
Stefanie Stoff‑Ahnis, the deputy chair of the national association of statutory health insurers (GKV‑Spitzenverband), told the Friday edition of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”:
> “The compromise, after long and difficult negotiations, brings more light than shadow. It would therefore be better to pass it now rather than postpone the reform again”.
She added that the health minister had yielded quite far to the states, citing weakened quality requirements for staffing and longer transition periods. “It would have been better to tighten those limits, focus more sharply on quality of patient care, and accelerate the concentration of the hospital landscape” she said.
The reform, still on the agenda of the traffic‑light coalition government, envisions quotas for specific procedures and the consolidation of hospitals, partly to cut staff costs. “If it finally passes, that would be a start” Stoff‑Ahnis told “noz” (the “Neues Osnabrücker Zeitung”). She warned that the states must not continue to block necessary steps-including closing non‑essential clinics-“as has often happened in the past”. The risk remains. Patients may have to travel a little further, but they would receive care from experienced specialists.
A further point: “Given the concessions to the states, the savings will be minimal at best”. Stoff‑Ahnis noted the problem is heightened by the fact that hospital spending rose to €111 billion last year. “It is more important than ever that the finance commission proposes truly effective cost‑cutting measures for the hospital sector, and that those measures actually come into force”.
