Stefanie Stoff-Ahnis, the Deputy Chairwoman of the GKV-Spitzenverband (the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds), has criticized hospitals for complaining about cuts despite receiving additional funding from the health insurers next year. Stoff-Ahnis informed the “Rheinische Post” that hospitals will receive at least an additional 6.6 billion Euros from statutory health insurance funds in the coming year. This represents an approximate 5.5 percent increase in hospital revenue compared to the current year. The Deputy Head of the GKV emphasized that the hospitals will still have sufficient funds to adequately care for the public, maintain good salaries for nurses and doctors, and actively undertake necessary structural changes.
She criticized the hospitals, both within and outside the healthcare sector, as the only industry she knows of where complaining about cuts occurs despite a 5.5 percent increase in revenue. Stoff-Ahnis expressed little understanding of why some hospital representatives speak of reductions or paint “pictures of terror” with so many additional billions of Euros. She urged the hospitals to adopt a constructive reform course, stating: “It is high time to switch from a protest mode to a constructive design mode.”
According to the GKV-Spitzenverband, in the context of the clinical output-based funding policy, neither a zero-percent round nor a negative round can be discussed. This is because if the revenues of the Statutory Health Insurance Fund increase, the expenses for hospital treatment can also increase. Looking at the measurable increases for hospitals in 2027, the GKV-Spitzenverband reported the following: For the agreement on the state base case value in 2027, the state base case value agreed upon or set for 2026 will be increased by 1.14 percentage points by law, without adjustments. This raises the pricing component of hospital payments by 1.35 billion Euros. This figure represents an increase of 6.59 billion Euros, or 5.5 percent, assuming a volume increase of 0.5 percentage points, without considering a potential tariff refinancing for 2027.
