A broad alliance of health insurers together with healthcare and business associations is calling for a comprehensive sustainability strategy for the healthcare system. "Sustainability must be made a binding part of the upcoming structural reforms so that the German healthcare system remains financially viable in the long term and does not lose its international standing," states a key-points paper published on Wednesday.
With it, the signatories are sending a clear signal to policymakers ahead of the planned reforms in the health sector.
Sustainability is "not an additional ecological demand" but rather a "fundamental condition for a future-proof, resilient and affordable health system," the paper says. A total of 33 organisations from sustainable business and industry, from research and academia, and from the health insurance sector have joined forces behind the document.
Despite their differing interests and perspectives, they say they are united in the belief "that sustainability, security of supply, quality and affordability can no longer be considered separately."
The paper is intended to serve as a shared strategic framework and will shortly be handed over to the federal government and the Bundestag. The stated goal is to develop the key points into a "binding sustainability strategy" under the leadership of the Health Ministry, and to firmly anchor them in the coming reforms to the healthcare system.
The aim, the signatories explained, is "not less care, but better care: effective, preventive, resource-efficient and oriented towards the actual needs of patients." As they put it: "Those who neglect this now will pay a higher price later."
The key points identify the need for action across nine central areas: governance, prevention and care planning, outpatient, nursing and inpatient care, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, waste reduction, transport and digitalisation. "Short-term cost containment alone will not solve the structural problems of the healthcare system," said Anne-Kathrin Klemm, board member of the BKK umbrella association.
"Long-term stability can only be achieved if the nature and organisation of care are also developed in a resource-efficient way." Sustainability, she argued, is therefore "not an add-on that we can only attend to once other problems in the healthcare system and in statutory health insurance have been solved."
It has instead become a "basic prerequisite" for the "long-term security of supply, the quality of care and the affordability of our health system." It is also, she added, "an important locational factor for Germany."
When it comes to sustainability, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and supply chains are increasingly drawing attention, the alliance noted. "They are among the relevant drivers of emissions and resource use in the system." The group is calling for comparable standards, planning certainty and a "clear political framework."
For the medical profession, the case is just as concrete. "For doctors, sustainability is not an abstract climate question but a question of the quality of care," said Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association. "Good medicine also means using resources responsibly and strengthening prevention."
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