Government: Spahn wants more office hours and better care in the countryside

] M More Office Hours, Medical Buses to the Countryside and Mobile Patient Data – The Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (CDU), wants to improve the offer of health insurance. The bill, presented by Spahn on Monday in Berlin, is expected to come into effect next April. Patient advocates see Spahn's announcements as promising.

Spahn's proposal plans to increase the minimum weekly number of phone calls from 20 to 25 currently. In addition, some groups of physicians should offer five hours for which the insured does not need appointments. In addition to their previous budget, doctors should receive this benefit.

Also, according to Spahn's plans, she should also be paid when a family doctor gives her patient a specialized appointment. "The experiment says yes, if the doctor himself picks up the phone and makes an appointment, he has a higher success rate," said Health Minister

Spahn wants the points of existing appointments and expand emergency situations. Appointments with family doctors and pediatricians should also be arranged, for example when closing a clinic and replacing patients. Appointment service points should also be available around the clock in the future. "If in doubt, they can make an appointment at two in the evening." The cost of the project is estimated at just under 600 million euros.

Medical insurance badociations must provide medical care in the future with medical buses or digital consultations in rural areas if doctors' offices are inadequate. If the offer is not sufficient, it is up to the order to ensure that the Kbadenärztliche Vereinigung itself resume the supply, said the minister.

The Council of the German Foundation for the Protection of Patients, Eugen Brysch, Spahn "It will depend on how the law is formulated and the rights of control that health insurances receive," he said in a statement. AFP

The Central Association of Sickness Funds (GKV) welcomes the planned extension of hours. If doctors, but about this make an appointment or mediator a specialist appointment, contributors should be charged for this no additional costs, criticized GKV vice president Johann Magnus von Stackelberg. If the appointment and placement services do not work properly, it is an internal medical problem.

The legislative file also includes the planned electronic medical record. It should allow patients from 2021 to access their medical data via smartphones and tablets. The Marburger Bund Medical Association has demanded sufficient data protection. Especially in the accelerated introduction of electronic health records of health insurance companies must be taken to ensure that patient data does not fall into the hands of unauthorized third parties, he said in a position paper.

Finally, the law also states that insured persons at high risk of HIV receive pre-exposure prophylaxis as a cash benefit. In addition, it is stipulated that in the future, long-term care funds will also support pure care services.