Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – An appendix or hernia operation and then lying in the hospital for days? From the point of view of the Baden-Württemberg state manager of the Barmer health insurance company, Winfried Plötze, inpatient stays can often be avoided.

This would relieve the statutory health insurance companies, Plötze advertised in the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. “Many procedures could be done on an outpatient basis instead of inpatient. Sometimes a few hours in the hospital are enough instead of a few days.” The catalog of operations that can be performed on an outpatient basis urgently needs to be further developed by the self-government in the health system.

According to a study by the Institute for Health Research (BFIG), which belongs to Barmer, nine percent of inpatient services nationwide could also be provided on an outpatient basis.