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Health Care Reform
In the year 1996, the Federation and the provinces reached an agreement on a health care system reform which, although it had been preceded by many reformatory steps, finally achieved a fundamental breakthrough in terms of a directional change in the system’s development. The initial step was concluded via an agreement in accordance with Art.15a of the Federal Constitution Act between the Federation and all nine provinces covering the years 1997 to 2000. The second stage of health care reform was initiated later on with a further agreement covering the years 2001 to 2004. The Health Care Reform Act of 2005 aims to ensure the financing of health care over the long term through cost control and improvements in efficiency. Further goals include the intensification of preventive measures and thorough assurance and improvement of quality in the Austrian health care system.
The fundamental points of the 2005 Health Care Reform:
1) Organisational Structure
The objective of this health care system reform is the closer networking of the inpatient (hospital) and outpatient sectors (hospital clinics, doctors in private practice). The newly created Federal Health Agency and the Provincial Health Platforms represent the institutionalisation of this closer co-ordination between the federal level, the provinces and social insurers.
2) Quality and interface management
The quality of health care must be ensured and continually improved. Over the past few years, the Federation has taken measures that effected improvements with regard to documentation requirements, the quality of medications and medicinal products, the quality of education and practice in the health care professions, patients’ rights and the quality of hospital care. Furthermore, the process of defining mandatory structural quality criteria for various specialties was initiated.
3) Health care structural planning
The objective of health care structural planning is to provide evenly distributed, uniformly high-quality care across the country, which is easily accessible and financed in a sustainable manner. Health care structural planning in Austria is traditionally aimed at the area of acute hospital care, since the Austrian health care structure is relatively hospital-centred compared to systems in other countries.
4) Health telematics (E-health)
The employment of modern information and communication technologies in the health care field has already been promoted and supported considerably over the past few years. The more intensive use of modern technologies is viewed as playing a key role in the current health care reform. Integrated treatment management is to be supported by the supra-institutional – and thus transmural – exchange of health information. The goal of the measures in the area of E-health is, in concordance with E-government and EU activities, to expand the legal, technical and organisational framework and promote co-operation via the bundling of resources.
The Agreement According to Art.15a of the Federal Constitution Act on the Organisation and Financing of the Health Care System and Health Care Telematics Act have created the basis for new improvements in the quality of care using already-available technologies, as well as the economic means to better take advantage of these technologies. The Healthcare Telematics Act has established supplementary rules for the transfer of health data (confidentiality, integrity and transparency of communication processes) and has also provided for information management concerning matters of health telematics. The first universal applications will be implemented as “electronic health record (ELGA)” and “E-prescriptions”.
5) Health care financing and documentation
For the organisation and financing of the health care system, the means are to be made available for the period of 2005 until 2008 for the financing of hospitals, for the area of co-operation, for supra-regional care programmes and treatment measures, for the promotion of transplant activities and for the financing of projects and planning. The Austrian DRG System successfully implemented for financing the inpatient care sector, will be kept and is to see comprehensive further development by 2007.
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