Drastic losses for hospitals in the DRG catalogue 2020

Based on the nursing and care law (“Pfegepersonal-Stärkungsgesetz”, PpSG), InEK excluded the nursing and care costs from the G-DRG-system.

In the beginning of September, InEK submitted the DRG catalogue 2020 for decision as in the previous years.

In total, € 15 billion of nursing and care costs were excluded from the G-DRG-system. As a result, the Reimbursement of individual cases via the G-DRG-system will decrease about € 10,000 and more.

The missing Reimbursement for nursing and care is not negotiated by the hospitals with the payers yet, so that hospitals’ solvency could be endangered.

“For the medical industry this means that hospitals are probably even less willing to invest and additionally will end up with more and difficult price discussions concerning material costs”, as Dr. Habetha of Healthcare Heads evaluates the current situation.

Additionally, € 200 million will no more be available for hospitals as of 2020 due to reductions of material costs in the G-DRG-system (according to hospital funding law of 2016). The partners of the self-governing body will come to a decision on the acceptance of the DRG catalogue 2020 expectedly on this Friday (September 27).

“The question is, if this will succeed and the partners of the self-governing body reach an agreement or if the DRG catalogue 2020 has to be approved by the ministry of health”, says Dr. Habetha. “There are big uncertainties how the changes by the PpSG in combination with the other 17 recent healthcare laws will affect the financial situation of hospitals as of 2020. The situation for the hospitals will probably become even more difficult. We believe that even more hospitals will be closed in the following years. At least, distinct changes in the hospitals will become necessary. We recommend to the industry to check how to strategically support hospitals in this difficult time of changes and how to partner.”

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