“A state like Austria can and must afford that healthcare is one of the core tasks of the federal government,” opened Edgar Wutscher, Vice President of the Austrian Chamber of Applied Sciences and the Federal Curricial Chairman of the resident doctors, the press conference on the future of the resident cashier, on the representative of the resident Doctors from all federal states take part. “We are representatives of the resident doctors throughout Austria have been in particularly intensive exchange for weeks, in all federal states the problems are more and more too top.” Wutscher continued: “In some federal states, it is currently the case that the Austrian health fund as a negotiating partner is inexistent Is. Not only in words, but also in deeds. ” Wutscher urgently demanded discussions with everyone involved: “A round table with social security, politics and medical association is to be organized as quickly as possible in order to develop a sustainable solution.” Further claims are instant aid by the federal government to stabilize the ÖGK, a priority treatment of health care in the ongoing government negotiations, sustainable structural reforms to attracting the contracts and more transparency in the financial management of the ÖGK.
Development in the germ suffocates
Dietmar Bayer, deputy federal spoke chairman, stated: “The starting position is clear: Our health system is still designed for the eight million inhabitants that Austria had in 2000 – now we have over nine million inhabitants, but still almost the same number of health insurance doctors and health insurance doctors. Our system had never had the chance to grow, this development suffocated politics through neglect and cost dust paths in the bud. With the lids and flat rates, the cash register system has always been made unattractive. ”In addition, there is a ‘cash reform’ and ‘merging’ that were completely botched:“ Instead of benefiting from the synergies – I remind us again that this savings potential promised us a promised ‘Patient billion’ should have financed – were the only ones who benefited from the consultants. In the private sector, mismanagement would have hard personnel consequences. ”The fact that ÖGK top representatives openly put the word ‘bankruptcy’ into the mouth is certainly not helpful for trust in solidarity health care. “You have to keep in mind which drastic consequences of an ÖGK would have – for patients, doctors and the entire health system. There are restrictions on treatments, longer waiting times and an increasing financial burden for insured persons, ”said Bayer, who also pointed out that there is still a lot of potential in the area of digitization,“ which we finally have to raise. So far nobody in Austria and internationally has understood why Austria has the luxury of three different IT companies – and much less in the times of a budget hole: we have ELGA GmbH, SVC and IT -SV – each of These three companies work on different projects. We lose money here every day due to these double tracks and the need for coordination. ”This has to be put to an end by finally being merged. Bayer also emphasized: “In addition, the expansion of digitization and telemedicine can still help us to relieve the health system.”
“3-minute medicine has long been a reality”
Chairman Naghme Kamaleyan smith emphasized: “The acute care currently works with a lot of personal use of the doctors, if we do not act, this can no longer be guaranteed. The lack of attractiveness of the cash register area and the difficult search for suitable ordination rooms in a big city like Vienna are also a serious problem. The ‘3-minute medicine’ has long been a reality in the cash register system: Doctors are on the limit due to the constantly growing stress and the enormous time pressure. Many of us understandably think about turning their backs on the solidarity health system forever. Without a fundamental upgrading of cash medicine, fair fees and modern services, it will not be possible to keep doctors in the system in the system in the long term. I appeal to politics to take responsibility in the interests of the population, and finally to pull back to the health insurance fund and to take up constructive discussions. “
Problems in all federal states
Christoph Fürthauer, Vice President and Curium chairman of the Salzburg Medical Association, underlined: “The cash register system becomes more attractive if it also becomes more flexible. This also includes enabling modern working models. Primary supply centers are an option, but networks can also offer a solution not only in rural-exposed regions, as we also have in Salzburg. Flexibility also means considering regional peculiarities. And that not only means a certain flexibility in the form of cooperation, but also during working hours: Why should it not be possible to work part -time as a health insurance doctor? Every doctor who wants to work as a health insurance doctor should also get the opportunity – regardless of whether he makes this activity full -time or hourly reduced. Each occupable cash office is a profit for the solidarity health system. ”
Max Wudy, Vice President and Curium Chairman of the Medical Association for Lower Austria, emphasized the need to submit medication in the ordination: “You have to imagine that: The family doctor still makes many home visits to the country, but can then only diagnose a patient Write the recipe for therapy and do not directly submit the medication to the patient on site. This is neither a satisfactory solution for doctors nor for patients. A restricted dispensing right would also make the individual order more attractive for doctors and patients! ”A development that endangers the supply of drugs massively for all patients is much more threatening for all patients:“ Over 600 medications have not been available for years, a problem that is largely is homemade. Instead of defusing, the umbrella organization invents new bureaucratic harassment, such as the parallel imports, ”criticized Wudy
Michael Schrefl, Vice President and Curium Chairman of the Burgenland Medical Association, pointed out: “We health insurance doctors have less and less time for more and more patients. Everything that helps outside of direct patient care is useful. Unfortunately, we cannot still prescribe all medication according to our medical expertise, but some medication still needs a chief and control medical approval, the so-called drug approval service (ABS). To abolish this alone would be very helpful. During pandemic, we were able to directly prescribe all medication as doctors, and that also had no negative consequences. ”
Wolfgang Ziegler, Vice President and Curium Chairman of the Medical Association for Upper Austria, stated: “Securing the health system also means looking into the future. It is all the more important that we take measures so that young doctors like to work again in the health insurance area. Unfortunately, the opposite is currently happening if we look at the teaching practice financing: The current funding guidelines stipulate that the financing share of the teaching practices in 2025 will increase to 25 percent and will continue to increase over the years. Representatives of the Medical Association have not been involved in this new prescription. This has to be renegotiated, because otherwise many doctors will no longer train teachers. We must not starve the teaching practice, we have to expand it – for example, by expanding the promotion of teaching practice to specialists. ”
“Actually five after twelve”
In video opportunities, the representatives from Carinthia and Vorarlberg turned to the well -filled auditorium. Alexandra Rümmele-Waibel, Vice President and Curium Chairman of the Vorarlberg Medical Association, edited a pilot project: “In Vorarlberg, the medical and medical association has launched a pilot project together with the ÖGK state. After childbirth, young doctors are entitled to financial equalization for a certain period of time. This should be rolled out as an example for all of Austria. Due to the current financial situation of the ÖGK, this will probably not be possible. At the moment, the ÖGK does not even manage to compensate for inflation. “
Wilhelm Kerber, Vice President and Curium Chairman of the Medical Association for Carinthia, emphasized the big demographic problems: “People are getting older, needing more and more services and at the same time the health insurance doctors in the age structure are so that 50 percent of our health insurance doctors will retire in the next few years become. Young doctors do not meet the extent because the system is not attractive. We have been pointing out these circumstances for many years and it is now five after twelve. “We expect both the reform and politics to finally get going.”