Der KHSG-Strukturfonds nach einem Jahr und Vorschlag zur Weiterentwicklung
The structure of the German hospital market has been subject to political debates for many years. In order to stimulate structural optimisations, German legislature introduced the Hospital Structure Act (Krankenhausstrukturgesetz – KHSG) which came into effect on 1st January 2016. It includes a so-called structure fund (Strukturfonds) of € 1 billion. The federal states can apply for fund capital to realise projects to optimise hospital structures (concentration of capacities and closure of excess capacities). There is more demand for capital than the given € 1 billion, which shows a high acceptance among market players. However, the fund capital will not suffice to achieve the target structure derived in this article. We rather anticipate that an investment volume of about € 11 billion is necessary to achieve it. Therefore, we suggest to continue the fund in the following years providing more capital. However, we recommend to adjust certain parameters of the fund: (i) using tax-based money instead of money of the social health insurance, (ii) establishing nationally uniform criteria for the granting procedure of the fund, and (iii) allowing hospital owners to apply for fund capital.
Augurzky, B. and A. Pilny (2018), Der KHSG-Strukturfonds nach einem Jahr und Vorschlag zur Weiterentwicklung. In Jürgen Klauber, Max Geraedts, Jörg Friedrich and Jürgen Wasem (Hrsg.), Krankenhaus-Report 2018 - Schwerpunkt: Bedarf und Bedarfsgerechtigkeit. Stuttgart: Schattauer, 131-148.