HBI Deals+Insights / Payor and Operator Models

Will Germany’s hospital reform fix the sector’s problems?

Two weeks ago Germany’s cabinet government approved Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s hospital reform. The current watered-down reform’s key feature is a proposal to move the sector’s reimbursement model away from fee-per-service payments, purportedly to reduce the incentive to overtreat. However, experts tell us the real motivation is still to shut down smaller unspecialised hospitals. Will it succeed in doing so?