The topic of elective practices

Every tenth hospital doctor runs a private practice

Around 2800 doctors are employed by Gesundheitsholding OÖ.(Bild: Ordensklinikum)

A third of hospital doctors in Upper Austria have part-time jobs. However, a ban on elective practices, as in Vienna, is not yet an issue above the Enns. This is because it still seems unclear whether such a step could have a positive impact on the public healthcare system.

"City of Vienna turns off private surgeries for hospital doctors" - this was the headline in the "Krone" newspaper last weekend. City Councillor for Health Peter Hacker (SP) had announced his intention to ban doctors who only work a few hours in hospitals from running an elective practice at the turn of the year.

Where local doctors work on the side
Many doctors in Upper Austria also have several jobs. A third of the approximately 2,800 doctors employed by OÖ Gesundheitsholding (the largest hospital operator in the state) have a license for secondary employment. However, this includes not only activities as an elective doctor, but also teaching activities at universities and universities of applied sciences, jobs as consultants or experts and activities in associations.

320 hospital doctors at the health holding company actually work in a private practice at the same time - that is around eleven percent of all hospital doctors. Are they contributing to the staff shortage in many hospitals because instead of working full-time in public hospitals, they are increasingly working in their private practices? Probably only in part.

Because: around 450 specialists in the hospitals of the health holding company work part-time, but "only" one in four of them has a private practice.

The Kepler University Hospital in Linz is part of Gesundheitsholding Oberösterreich(Bild: Kerschbaummayr Werner)

Banning these private part-time jobs, as is planned in Vienna, is not an issue in Upper Austria for the time being. "Of course there needs to be a discussion about how we can attract more elective doctors to work in public healthcare again," says Deputy Governor and Health Officer Christine Haberlander (VP) in response to an inquiry from Krone. "But I am very skeptical as to whether bans are the right solution." Haberlander fears that this could lead to doctors withdrawing from the public healthcare system altogether.

Proportion of elective doctors continues to rise
One thing is undisputed: the proportion of expensive elective doctors is increasing. This is likely to be particularly striking in the field of psychiatry. According to a parliamentary inquiry, last year there were 22 psychiatric practices in Upper Austria - and already 75 elective practices.

Kommentar

Warten oder zahlen? Weder noch!

Many patients are faced with a choice where there is no real option: wait or pay. In other words: wait for months for an appointment with a specialist at a hospital or health insurance doctor's surgery, or dig deep into your own pocket for a visit to an elective doctor. 

(Bild: Krone KREATIV, Harald Dostal)

Conversely, this means that the quality of our healthcare depends, among other things, on our wallets. It remains to be seen whether the Vienna proposal can change this or whether it will have the opposite effect. At the very least, it is an attempt to answer the choice between paying and waiting with: neither.