Minister Rauch sees the Chancellor at his side in health care reform

2023-11-18 16:03:00

There will be “fighting until the end,” he said in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal” about ongoing discussions about the package that is to be decided together with the financial equalization. Rauch emphasized that he has support from his coalition partner ÖVP. The reform will be supported “all the way up to the Federal Chancellor”. It will be a good and coordinated package that has not been seen on this scale for decades. “I am the patient’s advocate,” is how he explained his self-image in this context. It is important to ensure good medical care for them, regardless of income.

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He compared the work on the reform to drilling a meter-thick board. If it doesn’t succeed, “it will have been a long time,” said Rauch. Because no one else is doing this “ox tour”. Regarding the medical association, which fears for its power in the healthcare system and had warned of a break-up and wave of cuts, the minister said that the opposite was the case. The medical association spread disinformation.

Hope after conversation

Nevertheless, after the conversation with Chamber President Johannes Steinhart on Friday, Rauch was hopeful that in the end he would be able to reach a constructive result with the medical professional representation, which should be presented at the beginning of next week. Rauch did not say on what point he could still help the chamber. “I learned: the bag is only closed when everyone is in the boat,” is all he said.

Regarding the chamber’s threatened termination of the health insurance contract, Rauch said that neither the medical profession nor the medical association really wanted that: “So, in my opinion, this threat is now off the table.”

Criticism from the FPÖ

FPÖ health spokesman Gerhard Kaniak sharply criticized Rauch’s statements in a broadcast. The minister is neither an “advocate for the patient” nor does his reform – put in quotation marks by Kaniak – improve the health system in the slightest. Rauch cements undesirable developments with hundreds of millions of euros in tax money. The FPÖ mandater viewed the “Assessment Board for Selected Drug Specialties in the Intramural Space” as “a kind of ‘death commission’” that should decide on the treatment of seriously ill people with expensive drugs.

Health care reform: This is planned

The health reform is to be finalized in the coming days and submitted to the National Council as a government proposal in November.
Among other things, the plan is to promote the nationwide expansion of primary care units (PVE). The approval of independent outpatient clinics should be made easier, for example if at least three doctor positions in a region have been advertised twice without success. In the future, medical associations will only be able to issue statements here. For group practices (including those of dentists), lengthy procurement procedures are no longer necessary.
The overall contracts that regulate the relationship between practicing doctors and the health insurance companies are further concluded between the providers and the medical association. If no overall contract is concluded, individual contracts can also be concluded with the doctors in the future. The position of the medical association is weakened here, just as with the staffing plan: If there is no agreement on the spatial distribution of practices, group practices and primary care facilities within six months, the health insurance fund can decide for itself.
From the beginning of 2026, elective doctors will also be required to use the ELGA electronic health record and the e-card. In addition, from 2025 all doctors will be required to code diagnoses and services.
In the future, when prescribing medicines, doctors should generally only be able to prescribe the active ingredient, but not the specific medication.