A press release from the German Association for Outpatient Surgery (Bundesverband für Ambulantes Operieren e.V., BAO for short) states that outpatient surgery and non-inpatient procedures are to be better remunerated in the future in order to make patient care better, safer and cheaper for those affected. This is because, in an international comparison, Germany is clearly lagging behind under the motto „outpatient before inpatient“.
The association criticizes above all the too low remuneration of the extrabudgetary services of the specialists for outpatient surgery, of whom the BAO represents about 3,000 who are organized here, and the excessive budgeting, because the fees do not cover the actual costs of the outpatient surgical procedure.
The AOK, on the other hand, opposes the guidelines of the Federal Minister of Health with its position paper, which stipulates certain case numbers in the outpatient sector and has instructed the IGES Institute to examine more cases of outpatient surgery in order to expand the benefits catalog.
The AOK Federal Association, however, is in favor of even lower reimbursements and is calling for more services to be included in the extrabudgeted part of the overall care package. This means that outpatient operations and inpatient interventions that would otherwise take place in hospitals also fall and would fall under the AOK’s measures regulation.
The BAO is in favor of reorganizing outpatient surgery because of poor payment for all the reasons listed, and also because young doctors could be deterred. BAO President Dr. Axel Neumann calls for a rethinking of care structures and remuneration in this context, so that interventions of this kind are and remain safe. Above all, the increased demands on hygiene and IT structures cost more money, which could thus be in jeopardy – due to the AOK’s plan as a result of expanded billing and performance audits. The president of the association, however, mainly criticizes the AOK for „deliberately obstructing the intended ambulantization of medical services“.
Source: www.gesundheit-adhoc.de