While the ÖGK regards its cash contracts as “good”, according to some doctors, they are “exactly the problem for the shortage of doctors” in Lower Austria. Because young doctors in particular no longer find the small -scale tariff system interesting. It is required: a contemporary reimbursement catalog and better control of patient flows.
A wave of indignation led to the “Kroon” report on the shortage of doctors in Lower Austria. Eleven of the 39 to the positions for dermatologists are currently empty, while there are 96 (!) Elective doctors in the wide country. And currently 20 GPs are being sought for open cash offices.
The Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) attributed this to a “distribution problem” in regions that are unattractive for doctors. Because there are in principle very good conditions. “We are convinced that the cash contract is economically attractive,” says it.
Only losers with chord medicine
This causes indignation with dermatologist Krista Ainedter-samide of Tulln and the GP Dagmar Fedra-Machackek, who follows a cash contract site in Perchtoldsdorf. They find “Assembly Line Medicine”- the combination of high workload and lack of providing medicines leads to considerable frustration to the doctor and the patient side.
Treatment after quota?
The motto: better contracts find more doctors who would have burned less and could relieve hospitals. Because for the therapeutic statement the ÖGK pays 16.90 euros – but only for a maximum of a quarter of the patients in the quarter. This would be encouraged to grant the conversation only to every fourth.
Medical clarification of allergies may only be compensated by € 9.26 for every tenth patient. And: on average, a general practitioner emphasizes 20,000 e-card contacts per year, the emphasis on the two. They call for a contemporary honorary catalog and a targeted control over patient flows.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
