Negotiations between the Federal Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and the Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV) on the financing of the telematics infrastructure have failed. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists released a statement on this development. The negotiations focused on the monthly flat rate that practices should receive from the health insurance companies, starting on July 1, 2023, to cover the equipment and operation of their telematics infrastructure.
The stakeholders were expected to agree on the flat rate and its calculation by April 30th. However, an agreement was not achieved, and now the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) holds the authority to determine the monthly payments through ordinance. Dr. Karl-Georg Pochhammer, the deputy KZBV chairman, criticized the negotiations, describing them as a “political fig leaf” from the beginning. The Federal Ministry of Health’s aim to reduce costs apparently hindered fruitful negotiations.
According to KBV and KZBV, health insurers proposed flat rates that were exceedingly low and unacceptable for resident doctors. The current flat rates are already too tight, and practices are left with the expenses in many cases. Poschhammer explained that capping the flat rates as requested by health insurance companies would worsen this effect. In a letter to Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, the representatives of statutory health insurance physicians emphasized the need for clear and unambiguous regulations that would compensate practices for the costs incurred due to the use of TI.
