100 million in EU funding from January 2024 also for group practices

2023-12-29 11:11:06

LR Schleritzko and Lower Austrian Medical Association President Schlögel are pleased with the promotion of primary care and the positive development of group practices

Vienna (OTS) – As part of the Austrian recovery and resilience plan 2020-2026, the European Union is making 100 million euros available for “making primary care more attractive and promoting”. Previously, this funding could only be applied for for primary care units, which sparked significant criticism from the Medical Association for Lower Austria. Dr. Harald Schlögel, President of the Medical Association for Lower Austria, worked together with the state of Lower Austria early and successfully to expand funding to group practices: “From January 2024, group practices for general medicine as well as for pediatric and adolescent medicine that meet certain criteria can now also be opened , benefit from this investment support. I will work to ensure that, in a further step, the funding is also opened up to our individual practices, which are indispensable for care in the federal state of Lower Austria.”

The state of Lower Austria was also very interested in expanding the funding opportunity to include group practices. “Group practices are a successful model in Lower Austria. We will use the funding to further increase the number and existing group practices can further expand their range of services. In this way, we are putting healthcare on a broader footing and can, in the best case scenario, reduce the pressure on our clinics. “Digital before outpatient before inpatient – that has to be our goal and we are getting a little closer to this with the funds,” says State Councilor Ludwig Schleritzko, who is also pleased about the further improvement in health care for the Lower Austrian population.

The requirements for funding are a minimum weekly opening time of 40 hours, the involvement of qualified health and nursing staff in the practice, the offer of home visits and participation in disease management programs. Funding can primarily cover costs for the new construction, conversion and expansion of group practices as well as the costs for medical equipment.

Joint commitment by the state and the medical association to the positive development of group practices

Schlögel and Schleritzko see the change in the funding guidelines in favor of group practices as extremely positive and add: “The possibility that group practices can also benefit from EU funding will benefit both the maintenance and expansion of care in the private practice sector. This is extremely important due to the shortage of doctors and the ever-increasing workload in both private practice and hospital settings. The medical profession is doing a great job, but in order to be able to fulfill the motto “digital before outpatient before inpatient” set out by the Minister of Health, care in the practice area must be further expanded.”