Inflation exacerbates the economic problems of the hospitals in Saxony-Anhalt. They fear that the clinics will die in the coming year and call on politicians to take action.
Halle (dpa/sa) – The hospitals in Saxony-Anhalt are demanding financial help in view of the increased prices. The costs are no longer covered by the prices for patient treatment, said Wolfgang Schütte, chairman of the Saxony-Anhalt Hospital Society, on Wednesday. The situation is “extremely problematic” and threatens to culminate in the closure of several clinics in the coming year.
According to Schütte, there is currently a difficult situation in many of the country’s 45 hospitals. The staff have worked at the limit in the past two Corona years, staff shortages are still burdening patient care. Personnel cuts are therefore not an option in the economically tense situation.
In addition, a patient’s room cannot even be cooled down to 15 degrees Celsius in order to save energy and reduce costs. Some of the drugs and medical devices have become more expensive by up to 300 percent, said the managing director of the Carl von Basedow Clinic in Saalekreis, Lutz Heimann. In addition, with the loss of corona aid for clinics in the middle of this year, important revenues collapsed. The number of cases, which is important for the cost statements of the clinics, has also recently decreased.
These additional costs could not be passed on, Schütte continued. Because the reimbursements of the health insurance companies, which finance the operation of the hospitals, are strictly limited by the legislator. Schutte explained that there was no way for the hospitals to fully refinance the actual price increases. “This is a planned economy system in a market economy,” said clinic director Heimann.
In addition, there are sometimes major bureaucratic requirements, said Heimann. He sometimes has the feeling that the documentation is more important than the actual treatment. On average, nurses have to spend almost half their working hours on administrative tasks. He called for urgent structural reforms.
In the short term, the federal government and the state of Saxony-Anhalt would have to compensate for inflation in order to ensure adequate supply in the coming year. According to Schütte, hospital law does not automatically provide for the refinancing of short-term and unexpected cost increases. The hospital company is therefore demanding a subsequent invoice surcharge of four percent on all bills with the health insurance companies for the year 2022. Such a surcharge for 2023 must also be negotiated immediately.
