Overview

• Forsa surveys reveal that 36 percent of Schleswig-Holstein patients and over 50 percent in Lower Saxony self-referred to hospital emergency departments without prior medical assessment.
• Despite 85 percent awareness of the 116 117 medical on-call hotline in Schleswig-Holstein, only about 12 percent of visitors used it before heading to an ED.
• Tom Ackermann, CEO of AOK NordWest, says integrated emergency centers run jointly by hospitals and physician associations would improve patient routing and prevent overload.
• Jürgen Peter, CEO of AOK Niedersachsen, urges the federal government to swiftly enact planned emergency-care reforms to relieve crowded departments and steer patients toward appropriate services.
• In Lower Saxony a new telemedicine-based triage system in the on-call service has been piloted for weeks to speed assessments and cut unnecessary hospital visits.