Medical appointments: cash doctors warn of longer waiting times through reform

Waiting patients in Stuttgart: this can take time

Those who have a statutory health insurance often have to wait a long time for a doctor’s appointment. In the future, even longer waiting times threaten, warn the cash doctors: The Chairman of the cash medical Association (KBV), Andreas Gassen, said the “image”-newspaper, by the reduction of funds for the ambulatory care, the Federal government had just canceled more than 50 million appointments in the ambulatory care.

The fact that doctor’s offices will have to report a fixed number of free appointments in the future will not lead to patients getting appointments faster. On the contrary: If a fixed quota of reported appointments is set and these are blocked in the practices, these are no longer available for the patients in these practices, said KBV-Chef Gassen. “So the deadline will be further intensified.”

KBV chief Gassen: “The dilemma will continue to intensify”

Gassen stressed that KBV had repeatedly pointed this out. “Only if more money is available for outpatient care will there be more appointments.” These are comparatively easy to understand economic dependencies.

The KBV had criticized an extended “date reporting obligation” in the course of the recently adopted reform of the emergency care. Until now, contract doctors were obliged to report free appointments to the appointment service centre. They could therefore determine the scope themselves. In future, there should be fixed quotas for dates that they have to report.

According to the reform recently passed by the Bundestag, the contract doctors are obliged to report to the appointment service office “Termine to the extent to be determined by the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung in agreement with the state associations of the health and replacement funds”. First the policy cut the extra budgetary compensation for additional dates, then they tighten the reporting obligation, had criticized KBV-Chef Gassen recently.

Almost nowhere is it so unfair as in German medical practices: cash patients wait forever, private customers are preferred. How the two-class system damages the basic confidence of the Germans in a fair state, you will learn in this SPIEGEL title story.