BVMed: Hospital reform needs the right incentives

The hospital reform offers a great opportunity to improve patient care and hospital processes. This is only possible with modern medical technology“, says BVMed managing director and board member Dr Marc-Pierre Möll . This is why the  BVMed also welcomes the agreement between the federal and state governments to further develop the reform law. It is undisputed that a hospital reform should eliminate the false incentives in the system, improve investment financing and increase the overall quality of care. „We need a controlled structural reform of the hospital landscape to ensure the quality of medical care throughout Germany. Now it is a matter of overcoming the existing false incentives in the detailed design and not creating any new ones," said Möll.

Position paper on hospital reform

The previous disincentive to finance investment costs from savings in operating costs also led in reality to the avoidance of treatment methods with a higher proportion of material costs. However, in times of an increasing shortage of specialised staff, these can lead to a significant reduction in costs and an increase in quality. The hospital reform must also set the right incentives here, BVMed demands.

Modern medical technology – also for complex diseases

Medical devices are indispensable for patient care in hospitals. The treatment of complex diseases in particular requires the use of high-quality medical devices. The necessary medical technology must therefore continue to be available. From BVMed's point of view, the following requirements should be taken into account in the hospital reform:

• The service groups must be considered separately for the planning of services in hospitals and for reserve financing. This is because reserve funding sets economic incentives for the provision of care, which requires greater differentiation in the remuneration mechanism than for planning.
Hospital reform must not focus solely on operating costs. At the same time, necessary investments must be adequately financed.
• The patient benefit must be the decisive factor in the selection of suitable examination and treatment methods and not economic criteria.
• The adjustment and further development of hospital financing must be transparent and data-driven. The new financing model must take into account all areas of hospital services in order to enable the efficient use of resources in hospitals.

Article from "medizin & technik" from 19 July 2023