Agreement on the implementation of healthcare reform in Austria to improve digital care

On June 7, 2024, the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK) informed that the federal government, states, and sickness funds have agreed on concrete actions to implement healthcare reform.

The agreement contains concrete measures and clear rules for using the additional funds for healthcare reform. At the federal level, the partners jointly decide on an annual work program and monitor the use of the funds. Concrete projects are defined at the state level.

The specific projects, e.g., additional health insurance offices, longer opening hours, the establishment of special outpatient clinics, or the expansion of primary care, will be decided by the target management commissions at the state level with the federal government, the states, and the sickness funds representatives. Projects for structural reforms that are already underway can be funded and continued.

It was decided to expand the priorities for the current year in the area of digitalization. These will be financed with additional funds of 51 million euros per year from the healthcare reform. The aim is to make the benefits of digitalization perceptible to patients as quickly as possible. Additional priorities for 2024 include:

• Setting up and expanding telemedical services;
• Expansion of the 1450 health consultation service (the first point of contact for healthcare-related questions, where specially trained qualified nursing staff advise callers on their health complaints) with video consultations, development of a 1450 app, better integration into existing services;
• Further development of electronic health record (ELGA), an information system that facilitates access to health data: most important patient data at a glance, mandatory diagnosis coding in the outpatient sector: integration of data into ELGA;
• Better use of data to manage the healthcare system: establishment of a common, official platform for the evaluation of data by the federal government;
• ELGA GmbH will be expanded into the central facility for the joint e-health projects of the federal government, states, and sickness funds in Austria. For this purpose, a supervisory board will be established for ELGA.

In November 2023, the federal and state governments agreed on healthcare reform as part of the financial equalization system. The financial equalization scheme will make 14 billion euros in jointly raised funds available for healthcare reforms until 2028.

The full details in German can be found here.

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