Doctors' Day: Is the new fee schedule with opportunities for doctors?

Doctors' Day: Is the new fee schedule with opportunities for doctors?

Neumünster, Deutschland - The debate about the new fee schedule for doctors (GOÄ) is heading! After violent protests by the medical associations, the Federal Medical Association is under pressure to clarify until the Medical Day at the end of May. Dr. Michael Klinger, ENT doctor and chairman of the GOÄ committee, comments on the possible consequences and opportunities in the "Medical Day" podcast.

"Finally the chaos of the analog reviews!" - So the relieved outcry by Dr. Klinger. He emphasizes that a new GOÄ would create more legal certainty in the doctor-patient relationship. Instead of the cumbersome analog reviews for new medical services that have been carried out in the past 40 years, clear regulations could be introduced. This would not only benefit the doctors, but above all to the patient, since better honors are expected to pay attention in speaking medicine.

The challenges of the new GOÄ

But implementation is anything but easy! Klinger warns against discussing the new GOÄ again at the German Medical Day. A failure of the draft would endanger the credibility of self -government. Even if the Federal Ministry of Health should initiate the process, it could take until 2027 for the new fee schedule to actually come into force. "That is already optimistic," says Klinger.

The conversations with private health insurance (PKV) and the aid are complex. The changeover of the services from the old to the new GOÄ is a challenge because new surcharge options are introduced while the old increase factors are eliminated. Klinger emphasizes that the doctors' associations with the changes to the consisted draft are dissatisfied and that a clear orientation of the GOÄ is necessary to ensure the comparability of the positions. In the podcast he also responds to his favorite achievements in the new GOÄ and explains what the protests of the associations are all about.