German Doctors Reject Fund Spending Claims

Charges by Germany's leading public-sector health funds that patients are being treated unnecessarily in hospitals and clinics instead of being treated as outpatients, wasting billions of Deutschemarks, have been rejected by the clinics and the panel doctors' bodies.

A study undertaken by the funds at the request of Health Minister Horst Seehofer says 10%-20% of the 14 million a year hospital patients could be treated as outpatients just as effectively. Results from three states show that the Hesse funds' medical service says 20% of hospital stays are avoidable, while Saxony-Anhalt puts it at 18%, and Schleswig-Holstein says one in 10 stays is avoidable, rising to one in five for urological treatment.

The claims are rejected by the panel doctors and the German Hospital Association, whose executive director, Joerg Robbers, points out that 80%-90% of patients are referred to hospital by a panel doctor, which means in-patient treatment was thought necessary. Few patients arrive as emergency cases. The patient's age and condition also determines whether treatment is in hospital or not.