According to financial experts, investments by international corporations in German nursing homes, medical care centers (MVZs) and hospitals are increasing due to persistently low-interest rates. Therefore, the Left Party demands the introduction of a publicly accessible register, which among other things should provide information about the sponsorship and the owner of the MVZs as well as the profits made. The German Medical Association (BÄK) welcomes this proposal and demands further measures through legislation.
For example, the conditions for setting up MVZs are to be tightened up and the MVZs‘ share of specialist medical care in the relevant field is to be only 25 percent. The BÄK also demands that MVZs should henceforth be obliged to offer a wide range of treatment. Thus it is to be prevented that offers of the MVZ are not limited to particularly profitable treatments. The BÄK hopes that the introduction of limits on recruitment will help to counteract the formation of monopoly-like treatment centres. Representatives of the BÄK also warn that private equity companies, which invest private capital in medical facilities in bundles, are increasingly influencing the work of doctors in favour of capital gains. There are currently more than 50 such companies from other European countries and the USA investing in health care facilities in Germany, mainly in the fields of laboratory medicine, radiology, nuclear medicine, dialysis, ophthalmology and dermatology.
The Kassenzahnärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KZBV) (Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists) agreed to the requirements of a register for MVZs. According to Wolfgang Eßer, Chairman of the Board of KBVZ, around 23 percent of the approximately 1000 dental MVZs in Germany are now in the hands of investors, who often find it difficult to identify the respective ownership structures. In addition, the economic pressure on dentists is increasing due to external investments in the MVZs. Frederik Mühl of the Bundesverband deutscher Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaften stressed, however, that the need for investment is constantly increasing due to factors such as demographic change and a lack of skilled workers. According to Mühl, investments by private equity companies could increase the quality and efficiency of the MVZs and bring about structural changes in the healthcare system. However, the AfD’s demand that the establishment of MVZs is financed by tax revenues in the future is met with rejection by representatives of the BÄK and KZBV. According to Eßer, high investments and expertise are necessary, which most municipalities do not have.
