Conference: Hospital or factory

he introduction of "diagnosis-related flat rates" (DRGs) in the form of a universal pricing system has profoundly changed hospital care in Germany. Hospitals are no longer seen primarily as part of public services of general interest, but as commercial enterprises that compete with each other and have to assert themselves on the market. Economic "constraints" are increasingly marginalising questions of medical and nursing ethics. Public unease about these undesirable developments is growing. Numerous reports, initiatives and interest groups are addressing the complex problems faced by patients and employees alike. However, there has yet to be a broad public debate on this deliberately installed market-based control instrument. This is now set to change: On 29 and 30 May, the conference "Hospital or factory. What can be done about the commercialisation of hospitals?" will take place on 29 and 30 May. It is intended to be the start of a campaign against the financing logic of the German DRG system, whose co-initiators include the Association of Democratic Doctors, attac, ver.di Department 03, Harald Weinberg (health policy spokesman for the DIE LINKE parliamentary group in the Bundestag), the Society for Psychotraumatology, Trauma Therapy and Violence Research (GPTG), the Soltau Initiative and other individuals. With this conference, we would like to bring critical initiatives and voices into dialogue with each other, pool criticism of the DRGs and open up a discussion about alternatives. We want to formulate common demands for hospital care oriented towards the common good and introduce our well-founded criticism of the commercialisation of the healthcare system into the political debate. Further information can be found at: https://www.krankenhaus-oder-fabrik.de/

City: Berlin
Location: ver.di Federal Administration
Topic: Care
Time: 09:30-17:30