Health insurance companies alert: emergency services in Hesse are on the verge of collapse!

Health insurance companies alert: emergency services in Hesse are on the verge of collapse!

In Hesse there are alarming reports about the situation of the emergency services. According to a current test report, health insurance companies are warning of overload and inefficiency, which not only endanger operations but also patient safety. The head of the vdek state representative in Hesse, Claudia Ackermann, emphasizes that the problems are by no means due to the dedicated emergency services employees. Rather, fundamental reforms are needed to put emergency care on a sustainable basis. The report primarily criticizes the outdated structures and calls, among other things, for the establishment of a central virtual health control center. This would have the potential to not only increase efficiency, but also significantly improve the quality of emergency services. You can find out more about this by visiting hessenschau.de.

A quick look at the current situation shows that there are currently 25 independent rescue control centers in Hesse that are working anything but optimally. These inefficient structures mean that there is a lack of clear guidelines for targeted patient routing, for example to family doctors or outpatient contact points. There are significant differences in emergency care depending on the location. Uniform emergency call queries and telemedical care are currently hardly in sight. The report highlights that it is high time for reform, especially after comparing it with countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark, which have already established central control centers.

Reform plans on the political agenda

As part of the health policy agenda, the modernization of care structures in 2024 will be a talking point. A comprehensive reform concept from the Federal Ministry of Health was presented in January 2024. This sets out key points for an emergency reform, which resulted in a cabinet draft for a new emergency law in July 2024. The establishment of Integrated Emergency Centers (INZ) is intended to relieve the burden on emergency rooms and enable coordinated action in emergencies due to the lack of “common counters”. A closer networking of the rescue control centers and the associations of statutory health insurance physicians is being sought in order to improve holistic patient care, as can be found on vdek.com.

The vdek also calls for a comprehensive renovation of the emergency service and the creation of health control centers. These are intended not only to increase quality and efficiency, but also to curb rising costs in the healthcare sector, especially in statutory health insurance. Spending on emergency care and rescue services has doubled in recent years, while quality deficits remain. The draft hospital reform was received positively, but has been criticized because it could potentially lead to higher contributions from the health fund.

The way forward

We will be curious to see how the situation develops further. Many voices in the healthcare sector support the urgent calls for reform to future-proof emergency care. It is up to the responsible politicians to take the necessary steps so that the Hessian emergency services can soon return to their best possible performance. Time is of the essence because the current challenges must be tackled – for patient safety and emergency service employees.