Should people who don’t cancel their doctor’s appointments on time be fined? This can hardly be fair.
Just don’t come and wait patiently Photo: Ulrich von Born/imago
Are there sanctions for failing to keep promises? That’s what the National Association of Legal Health Insurance Physicians is currently demanding. According to one paintingAccording to the report, the first medical practice to charge patients a cancellation fee of €40 for unauthorized absences. In individual cases, repeated absences can result in costs of up to €100.
Take a deep breath before you gasp. Andreas Gassen of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians’ plan makes perfect sense. In fact, 20 to 30 percent of patients never show up without registering. This is not only a financial problem for the practitioner, but also an organizational problem. Other patients, who normally wait as long for an appointment as everyone else, may have to wait even longer. After all, the physician cannot make two appointments and use his time in other meaningful ways as is often the case in other professions. By the way, anyone who has ever been in psychotherapy knows the principle.
If the appointment is not cancelled 24 hours in advance, the patient will pay about 90 euros per hour. However, this also points to a problem in implementation. In the case of long-term treatment, the therapist can demand a cancellation fee at the latest at the next appointment. However, the specialist’s patient who does not cancel the appointment and leaves it may not come back, or at least not in the same quarter. And if he did not go to the clinic in the same quarter, nothing will be charged to the health insurance card.
Gassen’s proposal that health insurance companies should cover cancellation fees is also problematic because the higher costs incurred by unreliable individual patients are passed on to all members, not individually, and so even those who cancel in a timely manner are punished. This may compensate for the absence of doctors, but it does not provide an educational effect for patients who lack solidarity. In principle, however good the idea may be, it may be difficult to implement.
