After months of hard negotiations about the continuation of the mother-child pass (hereafter: parent-child pass), an agreement has now been reached. The examinations included in this will continue to be paid for by the health insurer – the doctors will receive a better reimbursement for this.
The doctors involved were informed on Friday morning, reports the “Salzburger Nachrichten”. The doctors’ association could not yet officially confirm this. Nevertheless, it is therefore considered certain that the medical association should have accepted the offer that was improved about two weeks ago.
EUR 19.75 million will now be made available for rates that have not been increased since the 1990s. This means that all rates for examinations in the context of the mother-child pass can be increased by 75.06 percent.
Chamber threatened to be fired
At the end of last year, the federal government had promised a budget of 17 million euros. This was to prevent the contract, which was already threatened at the time, from being terminated and an increase of 77 percent being achieved. However, at the end of February, the medical association sounded the alarm again, emphasizing that this would only lead to a 62.5 percent increase. The chamber justified this with the now sharply increased inflation and demanded another 4 million euros more.
Politicians and social insurance subsequently increased the offer to 19.75 million euros, but the medical association had called for further consultations and stressed that termination of the contract is still an option if no agreement is reached by the end of March.
Rates have increased by 75 percent
These conversations have now led to results. The 19.75 million offered are therefore available for the valorisation of the services. In concrete terms, this means that all rates will be increased by 75.06 percent, the rates for ultrasound by 46.7 percent. The automatic valorisation that is also necessary should not be there, but adjustments should be discussed again at the end of 2024.
Booklet is now called “Ouder-Kind-Pas”.
The government has announced that it will convert the yellow booklet of the mother-child passport, introduced in 1974, into a “parent-child passport”, digitize it by 2024 and expand its services. The service will be expanded with psychosocial guidance, another obstetric consultation, additional ultrasound examination and additional hearing screening in newborns.
The provision of parental advice and nutritional and health advice should also be included. Digitization should significantly improve the documentation of the test results. In this way, findings between practitioners and midwives should be easier to communicate electronically.
Condition for childcare allowance
The mother-child passport is almost 50 years old and has made an important contribution to reducing child mortality in Austria. About 80,000 children are born in Austria each year, of which 50,000 are firstborn. The examinations prescribed in the mother-child passport are mandatory in order to receive the full childcare allowance.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
