Negotiations collapsed

Medical Association: The wage dispute continues

Burgenland's panel doctors are the lowest paid in the whole of Austria. Collective bargaining with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund is proving difficult.

(Bild: Roland Mühlanger / picturedesk.com)

The Burgenland Medical Association's demand for higher fees for statutory health insurance physicians will come to nothing for the time being. The wage negotiations with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) have collapsed.

For the time being, there will be no better rates for Burgenland's panel doctors. Negotiations on a new adjustment of fees with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) have collapsed, even though the current contract between the Medical Association and ÖGK expires this year. While the health insurance fund says that the fee negotiations were postponed in agreement with the Chamber, the medical profession is outraged.

No tariff offer due to financial difficulties
It is an affront and an indictment of doctors and patients, says Chamber President Dr. Christian Toth. The reason given for canceling the talks originally planned for 17 December was that ÖGK was unable to make an attractive tariff offer for 2025 due to its financial difficulties, according to Toth.

ÖGK, on the other hand, says that the reason for the postponement is that a valid data basis is necessary for the negotiations on the tariff adjustments so that the frequency increases in the previous year can be taken into account. However, the billing data for 2024 is not yet available.

Breaking off negotiations
For the same reason, the Styrian Medical Association broke off negotiations just a few days ago. The representatives of the medical profession there then spoke of a "declaration of bankruptcy".

It is a disgrace that the negotiations were stopped. All stakeholders need to join forces - and of course the necessary resources.

Dr. Christian Toth, Präsident der Ärztekammer Burgenland

Burgenland has the lowest fees
"ÖGK doesn't even want to try in Burgenland," says Toth in shock. Yet it is precisely here that there is a need for action, says the President, referring to the lowest fees of all the federal states. For the Burgenland statutory health insurance physicians, this means that they will continue to do piecework at "dumping rates". To counteract this, the Medical Association sent a list of measures to the ÖGK back in the summer. The demand remains the same: Burgenland's panel doctors must receive the same remuneration as doctors in the rest of Austria. This is to be achieved, among other things, by lifting the billing restriction.

General practitioners would then receive around 10 percent more in fees, according to the Medical Association. Poor tariffs and, at the same time, major problems in filling vacancies for statutory health insurance doctors would also have an impact on solidarity-based healthcare, the Medical Association is concerned. "The system, which is often the envy of the world, must not be destroyed," warns Toth against cuts for patients and the commercialization of medicine. Countermeasures must be taken here instead of making savings.