The MDK Reform Act and its effect on outpatient potential : Risk or opportunity for urology?

Abstract

With the introduction of the MDK (Medizinischer Dienst der Krankenversicherung) Reform Act, there have been multiple new regulations for hospitals, some of which are confusing and interact with one another. Amajor focus of the legal changes is directly or indirectly on expanding the provision of outpatient services. It can be assumed that-as aresult of the new version of the framework conditions and the AOP catalog-the relevant OPS list will be expanded in the future. With the revision of the AOP catalog and the effects of the MDK Reform Act, the number of cases with outpatient potential will increase. Can the effects and challenges for hospitals and especially urology be identified? Evaluation of official statistics of inpatient and outpatient treatments. Focusing on the problem based on afictitious practical example from urology. Astrategy is developed for dealing with cases with outpatient potential and identification of different solutions to compensate for this shift in services and enabling an increase in performance or adeliberate reduction in the provision of services. The choice of the type of service provision is increasingly no longer an issue, and the short-term inpatient treatment of many urological cases is coming under considerable pressure due to political measures such as the MDK Reform Act and the demands of health insurance companies. The reduction of different parts of the inpatient reimbursement for special patient groups must be anticipated. Individual strategies will range from simply not providing outpatient services to complex models of cooperation. This change also means opportunities for hospitals!