The first practice operated by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) itself has opened in Berlin. The first patients will be received in the practice at the AOK health center on Prerower Platz in Hohenschönhausen from Monday. Initially, a doctor and a medical assistant will work there, a doctor and another assistant are to follow.
A KV’s own practice is unusual because outpatient practices are usually owned by a resident doctor, who in many cases also runs them himself. All medical practitioners who care for people with statutory health insurance are obligatory members of the KV, but work as independent entrepreneurs. In certain quarters, however, too few doctors settle down, and old practices are often not taken over by younger doctors. Hohenschönhausen in the north of Lichtenberg is particularly affected.
The KV had therefore announced that it would act as the operator itself. Thanks to the former practice owner, said Susanne Hemmen from KV’s own “Praxis GmbH”, because the search for suitable rooms on site was difficult. Lichtenberg’s Mayor Michael Grunst (left) said that medical care in the district would now improve significantly. In addition to the KV family doctor’s practice, the center at Prerower Platz also has traditional practices for gynecology and paediatrics.
It is foreseeable that KV will open further practices as an operator, i.e. will be economically active where medical professionals do not want to do this as self-employed. In addition, the KV pays grants to those doctors who settle in districts with poorer care. According to the plan presented in September 2021, up to 130 new general practitioners should be added in the future in East Berlin via these two paths. The panel doctors want to invest up to 21 million euros in the programs.
As reported, the KV divides Berlin into three areas. Firstly the well-supplied West and Pankow, Friedrichshain, Mitte; second, Marzahn-Hellersdorf and Lichtenberg; third Treptow-Köpenick. How well a district is supplied with doctors is given as a percentage. In the case of general practitioners, the degree of care for all of Berlin has been between 100 and 110 percent in recent years, although it is less than 81 percent in Lichtenberg and 131 percent in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
The KV is not a private association, but a corporation under public law that is responsible for outpatient care. All 10,000 resident doctors and psychotherapists in Berlin who care for those with statutory health insurance must belong to the KV. The KV administers the fees of the health insurance companies. The Senate only has the ultimate supervision.
