Health Economics

Project: Accompanying evaluation of the structural change in hospital care caused by the government

Project Duration

05/2017 - 08/2021 (current)

Commissioned by

Bundesversicherungsamt

Project Team (RWI)

Prof. Dr. Boris Augurzky, Dr. Dörte Heger (Chief), Anne Mensen

Summary

With the Hospital Structure Act (KHSG), which entered into force on 1 January 2016, existing overcapacity in the German hospital sector is addressed for the first time. One key element of the KHSG is a structural fund, which specifically provides incentives for the reduction of overcapacities in the hospital sector, the concentration of hospital sites as well as the conversion of hospitals into non-acute local facilities or other needed disciplines. The aim is to create a hospital structure that is prepared for the upcoming challenges in the health care sector. Whether the structural fund achieves this goal will be evaluated over a period of several years in this scientific study.