The Hospital Future Act – Funding for the Digitalisation of German hospitals in 2021

BACKGROUND ON THE GERMAN HEALTH SYSTEM

The German health care system is partially organised through federal legislation but health care is an exclusive prerogative of the federal states. This means that it is states that are individually responsible for the administration of healthcare and its infrastructure in their region. The KHZG is an extraordinary measure to support the federal states that shows the importance of digitizing the healthcare system to the federal government.

The aim of the KHZG is to modernize hospitals with a view to in-patient emergency care, to create nationwide standards, to promote networking within healthcare and to increase the quality of medical care for the benefit of patients. The law also aims to improve IT security in hospitals. Digitization is intended to help simplify internal processes and relieve medical staff in their day-to-day work. Further measures of the KHZG include special regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, such as financial relief and the extension of various deadlines.

The funding guidelines list eleven objectives, each of which has both optional and mandatory criteria (see below). The topics funded range from cybersecurity for hospitals to overarching digitization – including the adaption of digital medication management, digital care & treatment documentation and the inclusion of robotics and telemedicine into hospital procedures. Furthermore, pandemic precautions as well as cloud computing are also included.

A step-by-step guide to applying for funding

The funding under the KHZG applies from January 1, 2021. Hospital owners can already register their funding needs with the respective state, the state then receives the federal funding, based on the registered need of its local hospitals. In each federal state there is a dedicated office for applying for funding. After hospitals have registered their needs, the federal government submits an application to the BAS for funding for the hospital operator’s project. Within three months of the required notification, the state will select which projects will be funded. Applications can be submitted by the states to the Federal Social Security Office (BAS) until December 31, 2021.

CONCLUSION

The pandemic has made many aware of the advantages of a healthy and resilient healthcare system and the KHZG directly contributes to those advantages. It allows German hospitals to drive modernization and prepare for rare emergencies, an expense many long saw as a worst-case scenario and as unnecessary spending but that now clearly stands as critical to a resilient society. As the substantial funding of German healthcare through the KHZG programme makes clear, health is back at the forefront of policymaking in Europe.

For more information on similar programmes, check out our FUNDED magazine and Webcasts.