Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has announced plans for 14 extensive legislative projects in the coming months, including the digital law and the health data usage law. He plans to present six more projects in the second half of 2023 and eight in the first half of 2024. The first step in this reform is to tackle the planned hospital reform after the parliamentary summer recess, but there has been disagreement among the health ministers regarding hospital quality and transparency. Lauterbach aims to categorize hospitals into basic care, specialist clinics, and top providers like university clinics, but concerns have been raised about potential damage to poorly classified hospitals’ reputations. There are also criticisms of Lauterbach’s plans to increase transparency by making information about treatment errors in hospitals publicly available. After the summer break, there will be a focus on the digital law, the health data usage law, a law on university nursing training, a cannabis law, and the Supply Act I to strengthen health care in municipalities. In the first half of 2024, the Medical Register Act is due to be presented. The reform plans come amidst significant funding cuts, with the 2024 federal budget reducing planned expenditure to 16.2 billion euros, down from 24.5 billion euros in 2023. This will include the cancellation of COVID-19 grants, with no additional taxpayer money allocated for statutory health insurance and social long-term care insurance.
