After Death of Patient in Upper Austria: Government Launches Emergency Offensive

Following the death of a patient in Rohrbach, who could not be treated by any specialized hospital due to capacity reasons, four working groups - including one for emergency care - are to be established to create an analysis of the healthcare landscape. Health Minister Korinna Schumann (SPÖ) announced this on Friday after a meeting of the reform partnership with representatives from the federal government, states, cities, municipalities, and social insurance.

Working Group for Emergency Care Established

The tragic events have revealed that reforms are necessary, and therefore the federal government, states, and municipalities have now taken responsibility, said Schumann. One of the reform groups is to deal with emergency care in the clinical sector, focusing particularly on time-critical medical conditions - that is, illnesses where every minute counts. Initial steps to improve emergency care across states and in processes are to be taken at a meeting with the state health representatives next week, according to the Health Minister.

Implementation of Results Planned for the Second Quarter of 2026

The other working groups are to focus on digitalization, strengthening the public health system, and a possible "reduction of a two-tier healthcare system" as well as the professional roles in the healthcare sector. In parallel, experts are to present a healthcare analysis, which will serve as the basis for further steps. The implementation of the results from the four reform groups is to begin in the second quarter of next year, according to Schumann.

The meeting on Friday was actually a regular meeting of the "Health Reform Partnership". In addition to Health Minister Korinna Schumann (SPÖ), the social spokespersons of the coalition partners ÖVP and NEOS, representatives of the federal states represented in the reform group Upper Austria, Styria, Vienna, and Burgenland, as well as from the Association of Cities and Municipalities and Social Insurance Chief Peter McDonald participated.

Greens Criticize "Symbolic Politics"

Criticism came from the Greens even before the meeting, who see the meeting, referred to in some media as a "health summit," as "pure symbolic politics instead of real crisis management." "If the federal and state governments continue to hesitate, they endanger the healthcare provision for all people in Austria," said health spokesperson Ralph Schallmeiner in a statement, calling for central management and funding of the healthcare system by the federal government. The Federation of Austrian Industries also supported a shift of health competencies to the federal government, as recently demanded by Salzburg's Governor Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP).

The Health Reform Partnership began its work in mid-September. It is one of the subgroups of the partnership initiated by the regional authorities. The goal of the one-and-a-half-year project is to implement a major administrative reform.

Expert Opinion on Guest Patients from Lower Austria

In the ongoing discussion about the treatment of guest patients, a legal opinion commissioned by the Lower Austrian Health and Social Fund (NÖGUS) has been presented. University professors Gerhard Baumgartner and Karl Stöger state that the federal hospital law "fundamentally opposes the disadvantage of domestic guest patients in admission to hospitals for the purpose of elective treatments."

The restriction on the admission of patients with a primary residence in another federal state, as provided for in the Vienna Hospital Act, is "fundamentally unconstitutional and therefore unconstitutional," according to the expertise, which was also reported by "Krone" and "Heute." "Vienna's approach is illegal, as can be clearly seen from the opinion," emphasized Lower Austria's Regional Councilor Martin Antauer (FPÖ), politically responsible for NÖGUS.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.