IKK registered association
Berlin (ots)
27. Health platform of the IKK eV / health kiosks must be adapted to the regional conditions and integrated into a broad network / sticking points are the need, the conservation of resources and the financing
Merely adding a health kiosk to existing counseling services as a new service to create prevention, counseling and health care in socially disadvantaged or rural areas cannot work. Instead, a very specific health offer must be created depending on needs, regional location and available resources. The Hamburg pilot project in Billstedt/Horn is not suitable as a blueprint for the whole of Germany. This is the conclusion of yesterday’s 27th Health Platform of the IKK eV Under the title “Health kiosks as an innovative interface – wish or reality?” discussed representatives from politics, science and healthcare as well as around 200 participants on site and connected digitally.
In his introductory words, Hans-Jürgen Müller, Chairman of the Board of the IKK eV, explains that Germany definitely has a problem with health care in rural or socially disadvantaged urban regions. In this respect, the guild health insurance companies welcomed suggestions that would lead to a targeted improvement in care in regions affected. The tasks mentioned in the key issues paper of the Federal Ministry of Health for the health kiosks are only partially the task of the statutory health insurance. It cannot therefore be the case that the GKV should assume a flat rate of 74.5 percent of the costs, according to the IKK eV chairman of the board. “With the current financial situation of the health insurance companies, that’s a heavy pound!” Müller points out that the health kiosks are used much more for social space maintenance and public services, and are therefore the task of the public health service and therefore have to be financed accordingly by the federal states and municipalities. Müller is also critical of the progressive fragmentation of responsibilities and a possible thinning out of the staffing level, which is already not very resilient.
The Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Minister of Health Sabine Dittmar, MdB, SPD, emphasizes in her message that the health kiosks will by no means establish a double structure. “No one needs to worry about the establishment of a parallel structure in the healthcare system!” she promises. The health kiosks are intended to provide advice and organize access to existing curative health care. “They should relieve the existing structures on site, but not replace the work of primary care.” In her video statement, Dittmar rejects a financial relief for the cash registers. When apportioning the costs, the government was guided by the fact that the health insurance companies, as a solidarity community, have the task of maintaining, restoring or improving the health of the insured. This also means promoting health literacy and personal responsibility on the part of the insured. In this respect, the health insurance companies would also have to help with information and advice.
Prof. Dr. habil. Heike Köckler, Professor of Social Environment and Health at the Bochum DoCH Department of Community Health at the Hochschule für Gesundheit, emphasizes the importance of social and community structures and local networks for the success of a health kiosk. “Health kiosks cannot be set up like in the franchise system,” explains Köckler. In this respect, community-specific approaches are needed. “Health kiosks have to be designed and integrated according to the social environment and require the cooperation of actors in the healthcare system, as well as municipalities and social environment actors such as welfare, church or sports administration,” says the professor. That’s why you need health kiosks set up in a completely different way in rural structures than in urban hotspots.
The concept of the federal government’s health kiosks is not yet fully developed, states Anselm Lotz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IKK Brandenburg and Berlin. He calls for an overall concept geared to needs. “Health must not be viewed in isolation, but requires an interdisciplinary approach.” For the Chairman of the Board of Directors, creating social and communication spaces is a key factor in improving health literacy in socially disadvantaged regions. For the establishment of health kiosks in the narrower sense, he asks the question of need: “We should ask the insured whether they like the idea of the health kiosk if they are ultimately supposed to pay for the project.”
Prof. Dr. Lutz Hager, Chairman of the Federal Association of Managed Care, supports the idea of health kiosks in principle: “Health opportunities are unequally distributed,” Hager knows. “The health kiosks are now aimed exactly where health does not yet arrive.” However, he too is concerned about the establishment of a dual structure. “I’m afraid that the health kiosk will be a new building next to existing structures,” said the BMC boss. “You really don’t have to reinvent the wheel.” Instead, you need low-threshold access that is accepted. In the past, the low-threshold offers obviously did not reach people. From his point of view, there are also alternatives to setting up a permanent health kiosk. Health guides can also be connected to existing structures.
A need for health kiosks is also identified by Dr. Markus Beier, Federal Chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners. But the number of 1,000 kiosks postulated by the Minister of Health Lauterbach does not reflect the need, says Beier. “Rather, the number 1,000 manifests the need of politicians to make solution-oriented offers and to strengthen the health competence of patients.” He sees human resources as a challenge. “Where should the specialist staff for 1,000 kiosks come from without cannibalizing each other?” asks the federal chairman. Conservation of resources must be at the beginning of the considerations. “I’m not at all worried about GPs becoming redundant,” Beier notes, citing fears that health kiosks are taking over more and more primary care responsibilities. He is more concerned that the scarce staff will be taken away from him. “When resources are scarce, it is important to look at who takes on which tasks and is empowered to do so!” BMC boss Hager sees digitization as a great opportunity in the future. “We still underestimate AI a lot,” he says. “We have to see this area as a huge opportunity and relief.”
Regarding the question of financing, the discussants were divided. Hager calls for new payment methods or cost-sharing models, since health and services of general interest belong together. General Practitioners’ Association boss Beier, in turn, sees the federal, state and local governments as having a duty to differentiate between the services and to take them over from the appropriate cost bearer. Jürgen Hohnl, Managing Director of the IKK eV, then asked himself in his concluding remarks why the statutory health insurance is actually only intended to play the role of the payer and not the player. The health insurance companies in particular are already involved in so many advisory services and also have a broad database that could be used for the health care of their insured. “We want to work with our data to improve care, but we’re not allowed to,” criticizes Hohnl.
About the IKK eV:
The IKK eV represents the interests of guild health insurance funds at federal level. The association was founded in 2008 with the aim of representing the interests of its members and their 5.2 million insured vis-à-vis all key stakeholders in the healthcare system. The IKK eV includes the BIG direct healthy, the IKK Brandenburg and Berlin, the IKK classic, the IKK healthy plus, the IKK – the innovation fund and the IKK Südwest.
– This press release is also available on the Internet at www.ikkev.de –
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Original content from: IKK eV, transmitted by news aktuell
