Unusual surgeries and rising energy and material costs are also having a massive impact on German hospitals. In 2021 alone, more than 60 percent of the clinics will be in debt. “The situation is dramatic,” warns DKG boss Gerald Gass and reminds the government of an old promise.
According to a report, in view of rising inflation, German clinics are facing a new billion-dollar hole. For the current year, an unscheduled increase in costs of around 1.45 billion euros is expected nationwide, the “Augsburger Allgemeine” reported, citing calculations by the German Hospital Society. “The situation in many clinics is dramatic,” said their CEO Gerald Gass. Last year, 60 percent of the clinics were in the red, and this situation is now threatening to worsen.
According to Gass, the clinics are suffering from massively increased prices for energy, medical products, medicines, IT products and also food. In addition, there would be massive revenue losses due to failed treatments in the pandemic waves. “Our demand for inflation compensation is a surcharge of two percent on all hospital bills in 2022,” said the head of the association. He referred to the “promise of the old government that no hospital should experience economic problems as a result of the pandemic”.
The CDU and CSU in the Bundestag also warn of a hospital dying. “The current massive inflation is not only affecting our wallets, but also endangers the existence of our hospitals,” said the health expert of the CSU state group, Stephan Pilsinger, the newspaper. “If we don’t act politically now in the short term, many smaller hospitals will face bankruptcy.”
According to Pilsinger, the Union faction wants to ask the government for an emergency program with a motion in the Bundestag. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach must relieve the hospitals “immediately, in particular of the enormously increased energy and material costs, in order to protect them from payment problems,” Pilsinger demanded.
