DThe FDP supports the suggestion from the medical profession to operate more in practices to relieve the burden on clinics and budgets. “We support the initiative of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, the potential for outpatient operations in the private sector is demonstrably available,” said the health policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Andrew Ullmann.
He pointed out that the traffic light had enabled so-called hybrid DRGs, i.e. flat rates per case that could be billed on an outpatient and inpatient basis. He advocates an “extensive hybrid field that exploits the potential for outpatient surgeries and treatments.”
The German Hospital Society (DKG) expressed skepticism. “The proposal sounds good, but it is not realistic,” said DKG boss Gerald Gass of the FAZ.
Many patients are already waiting months for appointments, and more and more doctors are unable to find a successor: “So instead, we need to open the clinics for outpatient services immediately, as is common internationally.” Complex operations should be carried out there anyway.
Previously, the head of the panel doctors, Andreas Gassen, had suggested that every fourth of the 16 million operations per year be carried out on an outpatient basis. That saves ten billion euros. “The increase in contributions announced for 2024 could therefore fail,” said Gassen of the “Bild” newspaper.
Ullmann said that the necessary investments must first be secured because, unlike in the clinics, the federal states do not participate in investments from practices: “If we do not think the area of hybrid DRG big enough, the doctors in private practice will have no incentive to invest .”
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