500 Million Euros Annually: New Health Reform Fund to Strengthen Care

The aim is to modernize the healthcare system, close gaps in care, and ensure access to medical services, it was stated at a press conference.

The fund is financed from the funds generated by the increase in health insurance contributions for pensioners (via the so-called "levy rates"). "This will now be used in a targeted manner," said Health Minister Korinna Schumann (SPÖ). The project is to be passed in the National Council this year, with the specific implementation to be carried out by regulation of the Ministry of Health.

The aim is to strengthen the healthcare system for all groups, said the minister at a joint press conference with the parliamentary group leaders of ÖVP and NEOS, August Wöginger and Yannick Shetty. The fund is intended to give a "real boost" to the healthcare system.

Goals: Expansion of PVEs and Prevention

The coalition representatives named the expansion of primary care as specific goals, particularly the further expansion of primary care units (PVE), for which EU funding will expire at the end of 2026. The PVEs are important to create services in regions with poor care (keyword local care) as well as during off-peak times and on weekends.

As a second central project, Schumann named prevention. The goal is for people to live healthier lives longer - and that "in all age groups" - as well as to prevent or detect diseases early. For children and adolescents, the aim is to help them "learn to live healthily." This involves issues such as obesity, healthy nutrition, and "how to stay active." For middle-aged individuals, the focus is on maintaining health, for example through colon cancer screenings, workplace health care, and attention to mass sports. For the elderly, the goal is to be able to live "healthily and independently" for longer.

Wöginger and Shetty emphasized that the allocation of funds from the fund is linked to the achievement of goals. "The funds are clearly tied to achieving goals," said Shetty. Wöginger also explained that it is about the nationwide expansion of health insurance services in the outpatient sector. "Primary care facilities are essential here": Currently, there are 103 of them, and they are to be expanded to "around 255" in five years. The government also wants to "optimize" patient flows: The principle is "digital before outpatient before inpatient," said Wöginger. In addition to prevention, nationwide care, more team medicine (through the PVEs), Shetty also highlighted the expansion of mental health care.

Health Reform Fund: Five-Member Fund Advisory Board

Wöginger outlined the structure of the fund: It will consist of a five-member advisory board, including two "experts from the health sector." "The advisory board is to make a proposal on the use of funds, with the health insurance being involved in the development of the proposal. This proposal will be submitted to the Federal Minister and based on it, a regulation on the use of funds will be issued." The Austrian social insurance carriers will then implement these targets based on their years of expertise, according to the government factions.

ÖGK Head Huss Delighted

The chairman of the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK), Andreas Huss, expressed his delight. "Our Austrian healthcare system is at a turning point," he said in a statement. The question is how to manage rising costs and growing demands of patients without sacrificing social justice. "Medical care is not a given and therefore must be continuously worked on and invested in." The federal government has "created a common vision and a significant step towards stable healthcare provision in the form of this newly established healthcare reform fund in the shortest possible time," said Huss.

By 2030, according to the ÖGK chairman, there should be 300 primary care centers, women's health centers, diabetes centers, and care and therapy practices where different health professions collaborate. Also important is the promotion of mental health with the expansion of psychosocial care as a service through a new contract with psychologists and the expansion of psychosocial care centers. To increase efficiency, digitization, including the uniform expansion of the hotline 1450 and telemedical services, should be utilized.

Greens: "Paper Tiger" Instead of Real Reform

The Greens reacted less enthusiastically. Health spokesperson Ralph Schallmeiner spoke of a "toothless paper tiger made up of three funds - and not a single real reform." The law "explicitly stipulates that a separate fund is to be established at the ÖGK, the SVS, and the BVAEB." Thus, it is about three funds instead of a common instrument, according to the criticism. The risk equalization announced by individual SPÖ members is also not present. 500 million euros per year of taxpayers' money would be shifted, "without the law itself providing a single reform."

Schallmeiner also criticized the construction of the advisory board as problematic. "It consists of five members, all of whom are appointed by the federal government" - this without specific legal criteria, except for the vague requirement that two of them must be "experts with outstanding professional qualifications." This opens "the door wide for political appointments," he criticized the lack of requirements for independence or composition. Additionally, the social insurances are also supposed to have a seat at the table and help develop the allocation of funds. "Whether this really increases the necessary reform pressure, we dare to doubt," said Schallmeiner.

(APA/Red)

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