Association of Private Hospitals elects Executive Committee 2020-2025.
The Annual General Meeting confirms Prim. Dr. Josef Macher in his function as President of the Association for a further 5-year term of office. Stefan Günther continues in his role as Secretary General, as do the Vice Presidents Werner Fischl and Georg Semler. "The role of private clinics must be reassessed, as the corona crisis has clearly shown us," says Macher.
"Private healthcare companies are essential for healthcare in Austria because they relieve the burden on the public system," he emphasizes. For example, private acute and rehabilitation clinics kept capacity free for public needs during the lockdown and supported requests from the provincial governments to take on cases - including the processing of the massive backlog of operations by private acute hospitals. Individual rehabilitation clinics accepted and continue to accept recovering coronavirus patients for follow-up rehabilitation.
Advantage of heterogeneity
National and international studies have repeatedly proven that heterogeneous healthcare systems, in which private, non-profit and public clinics are part of healthcare provision, are particularly efficient, sustainable and innovative. However, according to Macher, this requires suitable framework conditions, which the Executive Committee will advocate for in the new term of office: "Only with transparency, performance-based remuneration and fair competition can we manage to provide the best medical services for our patients!"
Quality of care instead of discussions about sponsorship
Instead of discussions about "better" sponsorship, the President would like to see a dialog at eye level: "
The focus must be on the quality of care - and it must also be fairly compensated financially." Without public subsidies, the private healthcare sector is particularly challenged in the current situation: "The cost-intensive, corona-related measures and regulations to protect our staff and patients must not jeopardize the continued existence of relevant healthcare companies," he warns. However, the shortage of skilled workers and structural changes are not losing any of their urgency. "The General Assembly has expressed its confidence in us as the Executive Committee to provide intensive support to all private clinics in Austria in overcoming these challenges."
President - Prim. Dr. Josef Macher
Vice President - Werner Fischl
Vice President - KommR. Dr. Georg Semler
General Secretariat - Stefan Günther
Financial Officer - Thomas Kreuz
Members of the Executive Committee, in alphabetical order:
Walter Dolzer
DI Werner Hörner
KommR. Dipl.KH-Bw. Robert Nikolaus Winkler, MAS, MBA
Martin Witting
Section Spokesman II:
Gernot Krugfahrt
About the association
The Association of Austrian Private Hospitals has represented the interests of legal entities of private hospitals since 1953 and has its own collective bargaining capacity. It represents one of the main pillars of the Austrian healthcare system.
Further information can be found at www.privatkrankenanstalten.at
Queries
Elena Reghenzani, BA
PR Officer Association of Austrian Private Hospitals
e.reghenzani@privatkrankenanstalten.at
+ 43 660 358 826 0
