A new healthcare report released by Barmer on Tuesday reveals that the number of outpatient emergency treatments in German hospitals has risen by an average of 8.7 percent over the past decade. This figure indicates significant changes in how acute care is being utilized across the country.
The report states that in one in every ten hospitals, the volume of treatments doubled during the period, while in another ten percent of facilities, the increase was approximately half.
Overall, across all care clinics, the number of outpatient emergencies treated increased from 12.3 million to 12.7 million between 2015 and 2024. However, the increased burden has not been distributed evenly. While two out of five hospitals saw the number of cases rise by 39 percent, two other out of five facilities experienced a decrease of 26 percent.
Cristoph Straub, head of Barmer, has issued a warning that the overload of emergency rooms due to non-urgent cases is putting patient care at risk. He advocates for mandatory telephone pre-assessment supported by digital tools, ensuring strict routing to the appropriate level of care, which includes integrated appointment scheduling.
Regional data also shows highly varied developments in the utilization of these services. Compared to the population size, hospitals in Baden-Württemberg treated 50 percent more outpatient emergencies in 2024 than the federal average, whereas the proportion in Thuringia was nearly 22 percent below the average. Regionally, utilization trends diverged notably: in Bremen and Berlin, outpatient emergency treatments decreased by 15 and 14.6 percent, respectively, between 2015 and 2024, while in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, they increased by 18.7 and 19.9 percent.
