Cologne's non-profit hospitals: injustice in financing!

Cologne's non-profit hospitals: injustice in financing!

In Cologne, ten non-profit hospitals have joined forces under the motto “Fair is healthy” to draw attention to grievances in local hospital financing. This initiative sharpens the focus on structural inequality: While the city of Cologne generously supports its municipal clinics, the non-profit hospitals are left out. Loud KMA These facilities do not receive any financial help, even though they provide more than half of the city's inpatient care.

These clinics not only make a significant contribution to regional health care, but also to birth support: over 50 percent of births in Cologne take place in these hospitals and they provide almost all geriatric care. In addition, they treat six out of ten emergency patients in emergency care, including 55 percent of all heart attacks and a third of all strokes.

Inequality in funding

Gunnar Schneider, board member of the Cellit Women Foundation, sharply criticizes the unequal financial support for municipal and non-profit clinics. Between 2015 and 2023, the municipal institutions received financial aid totaling 533.2 million euros, which flowed mainly through shareholder loans. In 2023, the city of Cologne's operating cost subsidies for city clinics amounted to 67.2 million euros, which are expected to increase to 76.6 million euros by 2025. “This cannot continue like this,” says Stephan Prinz, board member of the Josefs-Gesellschaft. The initiative calls for a constructive dialogue with the city of Cologne in order to finally create transparent and provider-independent financing conditions.

The situation in Cologne is not an isolated case. As the Bosch Foundation As it turns out, many hospitals in Germany, especially the non-profit ones, are facing major financial challenges. Here the costs rose disproportionately as a result of inflation, while revenues could hardly be increased due to the Hospital Fees Act. Political support for non-profit houses is often lacking, which endangers the sustainable health care of many communities.

An urgent appeal to politicians

Against this background, the commitment of non-profit hospitals is of utmost importance. In other cities, such as Stuttgart, large non-profit organizations take over around 40 percent of the hospital beds. Health care here hardly makes sense without their support. A recent legal opinion supports the requirement that public tax money must be available to fairly support all hospitals.

The Federal Ministry of Health has already initiated measures to reform hospital financing in order to reduce disincentives and ensure the quality of care. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether Cologne politics will provide the urgently needed answers and solutions in view of the “Fair is Healthy” initiative from non-profit institutions.