Checklist for politics

How to make our sick healthcare system fit

Intensive patient healthcare system

(Bild: stock.adobe, Krone KREATIV)

More and more private doctors, months-long waiting times for surgery appointments, overcrowded outpatient clinics, staff shortages - the list of problems in the healthcare system is long and getting longer. Many are wondering whether the rudder can still be turned at all. The ÖVP and SPÖ will start exploratory talks next week, and the healthcare sector will be a key issue.

200 experts and decision-makers have drawn up concrete recommendations for improvements for the next government. This year's Austrian Health Forum in Bad Hofgastein focused on two central topics - prevention and digitalization and data usage.

More prevention is needed
Meinhild Hausreither, Head of Section at the Ministry of Health, summarized the situation as follows: "The number of years spent in good health in Austria is below the average for comparable countries. It is therefore important to expand health promotion, health literacy and prevention."

200 experts discuss prescriptions for better healthcare

(Bild: Ben Kaulfus)

Automatic vaccination reminders in future?
The participants at the conference agreed that vaccinations are an important tool for prevention and that an e-vaccination card with an invitation and reminder function needs to be rolled out. ÖGK Chairman Andreas Huss: "Vaccination is a central task of Austrian preventive healthcare." Vaccination in pharmacies was also discussed once again.

Jakob Hochgerner, Health Director of the Province of Upper Austria, suggested that the recommended vaccinations should already be anchored as health insurance benefits in the General Social Insurance Act (ASVG): "Of course, health insurance must also receive sufficient resources for this. With their structures, the federal states could be contractual partners and strong supporters of a national health insurance vaccination program."

The scientist Niki Popper

(Bild: Klemens Groh)

Popper: "People can then decide freely"
The importance of sharing information was emphasized by simulation researcher Niki Popper: Science could draw dynamic evaluation models from networked data, on the basis of which sensible decisions can be made. "We can then simulate the effects of a certain intervention, such as a vaccination. People can make free decisions based on this information." However, the necessary data is often still lacking: "If we want to develop such evidence-based models, we need data of a quality that we are still a long way from achieving."

Improving communication and using data
The other participants also agreed on the desire for better health communication and the targeted use of health data and digitalization. "If we don't succeed in making the best possible use of digitalization, we won't be able to provide the population with the best possible care," explained Peter Lehner, Chairman of the Social Insurance for the Self-Employed (SVS).

Healthy lifestyle

According to an Integral survey, 66% of Austrians "very" or "somewhat" pay attention to a healthy lifestyle, with only 5.5% "not at all" doing so. 70 percent feel "very" or "rather" healthy, only seven percent do not feel healthy.

The gap widens slightly when it comes to vaccinations: 64% make sure they "get all their vaccinations on time", while 14% "don't get them at all". 1,000 people were surveyed in August 2024.

Health portals and the telephone health advice service 1450 were also discussed. According to the Director General for Public Health, Katharina Reich, anonymous contact points such as 1450 are good and important, but not enough; personal contact points are also needed. "People need to have an overall picture of their own health situation and that of their own family."

Information needs to be brought together
In the current system, everyone does what they want. "We need efficient guidance for patients," said Medical Association Vice President Harald Mayer. For example, health information that has already been collected should be available to patients and practitioners, appointment reminders should be sent out in a timely manner and news - such as a hospital visit - should be recorded directly. The desired result: "Treatment can be improved through more information exchange between the healthcare professions, more health literacy and more interaction with patients," says Verena Nikolai, Head of Department at the Ministry of Health.

Smoking is the leading cause of death worldwide

(Bild: sebra – stock.adobe.com / KroneMED)

The example of COPD was used to illustrate what efficient control can look like. The chronic lung disease commonly known as "smoker's disease" is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Primar Arschang Valipour from the Floridsdorf Clinic commented: "One slap in the face is less than two slaps in the face - this is also the case with e-cigarettes. Based on current research, they are less harmful than 'normal' cigarettes. But young people start using them and 80 percent of them start smoking later. They contain chemicals and flavors that can even lead to secondary diseases."

Data protection as a problem child
Data protection is particularly relevant in connection with digital solutions, as German data protection activist and author Leena Simon emphasized. "There are legitimate reasons to collect data, not just for science. But we can only obtain this sensitive data with strong data protection. Without it, it would be incomplete and inaccurate. Data protection is not an inhibitor, but rather a competitive advantage that creates trust." 

A third of children are already overweight

(Bild: ©Africa Studio - stock.adobe.com)

Prevention as the key to a healthy life
Another demand of the Austrian Health Forum concerned prevention and health awareness. Insured persons should be given incentives for correct behavior. "Almost 30 percent of people start adult life overweight, and this figure rises to 50 percent by the time they retire.

We therefore need to start with children and young people, with measures for more exercise and a healthier diet - and this needs to be coordinated nationwide. This requires a prevention law that pursues a mandatory approach in which the measures taken are also subject to uniform monitoring," says Wolfgang Panhölzl from the Vienna Chamber of Labor.