No progress is being made with the hospital reform and it is becoming increasingly unlikely that it will be passed next year.
Nevertheless, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach is sticking to his timetable: draft by 24.4. in the cabinet (realistically the last date by which a law can still be passed this year); law comes into force in January 2025. This week will decide if the timeline will still work out - but it doesn't look good.
The problem is the Hospital Transparency Act (KHTG), which is still stuck in the federal council. A mediation committee urgently needs to be convened -no later than this week- to reach an agreement and pass the act in time. The KHTG contains controversial regulations between the federal and state governments, which are considered a prerequisite for the reform. But too much is still unresolved. In November 2023, following the failure of the bill in the federal council, Lauterbach announced in a protocol statement an increase in the state prime rates and a transformation fund. It has not yet been possible to verify whether this announcement was and is coordinated with the federal government and therefore does little to inspire confidence among Lauterbach's critics. In the meantime, the also controversial federal budget was passed, overall reducing funds for the Ministry of Health. A few days ago, minister Lauterbach declared the statutory health insurance funds to be responsible for financing the promised increased state prime rates and the transformation fund. Not unsurprising, this has now also turned the insurances against him.
With so much discord and so many unresolved issues, there are more and more sources that consider it doubtful that the hospital reform will be passed on time. This means that the hospital reform as a whole is in danger.
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Author: Healthcare Heads GmbH
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