Getting an appointment with the specialist can sometimes be difficult. Long waiting times are normal in many practices. It is all the more annoying if patients simply do not appear on their agreed appointments without previously canceling. This means that they take away other urgently needed appointments, according to Jakob Maske, spokesman for the Federal Association of Pediatricians. He demands for tired Dates A failure fee of up to 100 euros.
Doctors frustrated with unexcused deadlines
The number of non -perceived doctor’s appointments increases and leads to considerable resentment among many doctors. According to Andreas Gassen, chairman of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), 10 to 20 percent of the agreed appointments are now missed. Like mask, he speaks for a failure fee “of 10 to 20 euros, which is common nowadays in almost all areas of life”. According to alleys, the health insurance companies should pay the penalty fee.
Criticism comes from the German Foundation for Patient Protection and other consumer advocates. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) also considers a penalty fee to be wrong: “The doctors are right, unusual appointments must be the medically related exception. Failure is the wrong way.” Bavaria’s Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek (CSU), in turn, is open to such plans. Opposite the Bild newspaper He said: “As long as the resource of medical treatment is scarce, it must become clear that an appointment has an value. Therefore, a fee for non-appearance is a suggestion that you can think about.”
Is the house doctor system coming?
As part of the current negotiations for government formation between the CDU/CSU and SPD, a working group has dealt with the problem that many legally insured persons often have to wait long for appointments for specialists. In order to counteract this, the working group suggests a system in which general practitioners are the central point of contact for patients and only transfer them to specialists if necessary. The parties hope for more speed in allocating appointments and more targeted medical care.
