Regionale Unterschiede in der stationären Versorgung: Das ländliche Krankenhaus im Fokus
The geodemographic development will lead to significant losses of an already ageing population in underdeveloped rural areas, especially in the new German Länder. This means that in some areas the existing hospital infrastructure cannot be fully maintained. Based on the analysis of the Krankenhaus rating Report (KRR) 2011, we observe that even today the economic situation of rural primary care hospitals (up to 300 beds) is the worst, followed by urban primary care hospitals. Rural and urban specialist clinics, on the other hand, showed average results. Large hospitals (more than 300 beds) have the best economic situation – both in rural and urban areas. However, non-municipal rural and urban primary care hospitals score significantly better than those in public owner-ship. Therefore, a structural adjustment of rural primary care should be considered which would induce bigger or specialized units – whether in public or other ownership. In addition it should be discussed why small rural primary care hospitals in non-municipal ownership score far better than those in municipal ownership.
Augurzky, B., A. Beivers and H. Schmitz (2012), Regionale Unterschiede in der stationären Versorgung: Das ländliche Krankenhaus im Fokus. In Jürgen Klauber, Max Geraedts, Jörg Friedrich and Jürgen Wasem (Hrsg.), Krankenhaus-Report 2012 - Schwerpunkt: Regionalität. Stuttgart: Schattauer, 19-31.