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BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - In the struggle over hospital reform, warnings are growing louder about cutting back on requirements for treatment quality and greater specialization. The head of the Barmer health insurance company, Christoph Straub, warned before renewed federal-state consultations on Wednesday that there was a risk that a purely financial reform would remain of the widely announced reform. "This threatens enormous costs for the system and those with statutory health insurance, without the urgently needed quality and structural changes actually being tackled." Techniker Krankenkasse and the co-governing FDP also campaigned on Wednesday for the implementation of the planned fundamental changes to the hospital network.

At a meeting in Berlin, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wanted to talk to his colleagues from the federal states about a draft bill that has now been submitted. The reform plans aim to change remuneration with flat rates for treatment cases in order to relieve clinics of the financial pressure of having to treat more and more patients. In future, they are to receive 60 percent of the remuneration simply for providing services. Financing by the health insurance funds is to be based on more precisely defined service groups. They are to contain uniform quality specifications.

The head of the Techniker Krankenkasse, Jens Baas, criticized that the reform is increasingly approaching a tipping point where no reform is the lesser of two evils. "The original goal of creating better quality across the board through a sensible division of labor between clinics is being pushed more and more into the background." Instead, more and more cost traps are being created for contributors. The reform was a historic opportunity to overhaul outdated structures. Politicians must not miss this opportunity now.

The FDP's health policy spokesperson in the Bundestag, Andrew Ullmann, said: "Patient care can only improve in the long term by changing the structures. We will not support an agreement on de-monetized funding with unchanged structures." The federal states must clearly acknowledge that the number of inpatient beds must be reduced. Overuse and underuse in the regions must be eliminated.

Bavaria's Health Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU) told the newspaper "Augsburger Allgemeine" (Wednesday) that the federal states still see an urgent need for change in many areas. "I expect Lauterbach to take the concerns and needs of the federal states seriously." Among other things, Bavaria is campaigning for the states to be given the opportunity to deviate from the nationwide structural guidelines in order to guarantee security of supply, said Gerlach. "With the current rigid requirements and the planned time limits, the hospital planning competence of the federal states is massively impaired."

The federal-state round table had met several times in recent months for difficult consultations. There are various points of criticism among the federal states regarding the legislative plans, which Lauterbach has no longer designed in such a way that they require approval in the Bundesrat. The Minister had stated that the Federal Cabinet should deal with the plans in the coming week. The federal states and hospitals are also calling for additional financial aid to be provided quickly, even before the planned major reform /sam/DP/nas