Doctors threat with « hefty response » to possible restriction of fee supplements

According to the Federal Coalition Agreement, there must be a harmonization of « the maximum percentages of the fee supplements in hospitals » during the current legislature. Vandenbroucke clearly did not sit still in that file and announced on Friday, among other things, that there would be a maximum ceiling for the fee supplements of deconved doctors. Coalition partner N-VA previously responded surprised to the plans and emphasized that the legal text is still « not validated ».

The doctors themselves are particularly displaced with the lack of consultation in the run -up to the bill. « The minister will probably say that there has been a consultation, but he has simply presented us with a designed design, » says Gevaert. According to him, the question now is whether the proposal can still be negotiated in a « mature way ». « If not, this could lead to a hefty response from healthcare, » the chairman warns. According to him, a form of strike is « never excluded ».

Read too. Do we suddenly have to pay much more at the dentist? This means rejecting a conventite rate for you

The French -speaking professional organization Abssym also points to the lack of consultation. « The minister turns up the balance between doctors and government, » says chairman Patrick Emonts. « The one -sided decision to ceiling the supplements without reviewing the nomenclature and the financing puts the survival of extramural services and complex care provisions on the slope. The consequences for access to and the quality of health care in Belgium will be catastrophic, » he responds.

Still, Gevaert emphasizes, it doesn’t have to get that far. He says he understands that the promises from the coalition agreement must be worked out. According to him, most doctors interpreted the conscious passage differently. « The coalition agreement seems to mean that the excessive supplements must be removed, not that they are so limited that the care financing is compromised. You should not forget that hospitals depend on part of private financing, » says Gevaert.

In addition to the limitation of the fee supplements, the minister also has other plans. For example, certain premiums for matters such as practice support would only go to doctors who are convincing. In addition, Vandenbroucke wants a split between reimbursements for actual care tasks and those for the operating costs of care providers, where supplements can only be asked for that first category. The hospitals would see their operating costs from then funded directly.

« Again: I understand that there should be savings, » says Gevaert. « But if you are going to curb all the ways to get extra resources yourself, the bill cannot possibly still be correct at the end of the ride. »