Joint statement on the GOÄneu

Joint statement on the GOÄneu

Yes, we need a new GOÄ. A new GOÄ is necessary, but not at any price and not at the expense of medical unity. Above all, a new GOÄ needs broad acceptance. It therefore requires a vote from the medical profession that is as resolute as it is united. Even after months of debate, we do not currently see this important condition.

According to the current state of knowledge, it is intended to put the current version of the GOÄneu to a vote at the 129th German Medical Assembly.

As legitimate representatives of their medical societies and specialist professional associations, the undersigned urge the German Medical Association not to submit the draft of the GOÄneu to a vote at the upcoming Doctors' Conference in order to open up space for further discussions, which we believe are absolutely necessary.

We reject the GOÄneu in its current form.

The main reasons for our rejection are as follows:

• The current version of the GOÄneu is not the result of a coordination process within the medical profession.
  Rather, the negotiations took place solely between the BÄK, the PKV association and the subsidy providers, at the end of the process, after a version that had been agreed upon within the medical profession had been drawn up. There is not much sign of this consensus in the version of the GOÄneu that has now been presented. The current version of the GOÄneu was therefore largely drafted without consultation with the professional medical associations and medical societies. Constructive cooperation on a consensus-based GOÄneu was therefore neither possible, nor was this apparently even desired.
• The result of the proposed GOÄneu is also highly non-transparent.
  The sometimes high and disproportionate devaluations of services lack a comprehensible and convincing justification. The DÄT 2016 already stipulated as a condition for the amendment of the GOÄ "that the basis of the service evaluations follows a business calculation". This principle has been abandoned in the present document in favor of a volume-based approach. As a result, there are objectively incomprehensible remuneration approaches. This means that further development of the GOÄneu, which adequately reflects medical innovations, is no longer possible.
• The chosen volume approach with apparently arbitrary setting of remuneration rates creates doctors of different classes.
  Even if this may not have been done deliberately, this reduction in remuneration rates leads to different remuneration for doctors' working hours. This certainly varies from specialty to specialty, but contradicts the resolutions of previous medical conferences, which established the equivalence of medical working hours. This is not in the interests of the best possible patient care. The disciplines must not be played off against each other. Such an approach encourages a division within the medical profession and is fundamentally rejected by us.
• Until April 30, 2025 - four weeks before the planned vote on the GOÄneu at the German Medical Assembly - no official version of the GOÄneu was available to the medical profession.
  This not only makes an open and proper discussion more difficult. Sufficient time for discussion is also required to form an informed opinion and make a decision - especially with regard to the delegates at the German Medical Assembly. We do not consider this to be the case.

The lack of transparency in the process and the result have shaken our trust in the actors involved. The undersigned call for fundamental corrections to the present GOÄneu in order to eliminate existing distortions and misalignments in the remuneration system as amicably as possible. Our willingness to cooperate is beyond question.

In view of the considerable resentment and resistance in large parts of the medical profession, we urgently appeal to the German Medical Association not to put the GOÄneu to the vote.

Give the GOÄneu the chance it deserves and allow further discussion and processing!

The signatory specialist societies and professional associations (in alphabetical order):

Dr. Michael Müller, 1st Chairman of the Board
Accredited Laboratories in Medicine e.V. (ALM)
Contact office: kontakt@alm-ev.de

PD Dr. Daniela Huzly, Federal Chairwoman
Professional Association of Physicians for Microbiology, Virology and Infection Epidemiology e.V. (BÄMI)
Contact office: berlin@baemi.de

Prof. Dr. Hermann Helmberger, President
Professional Association of German Radiology (BDR)
Contact office: info@radiologenverband.de

Dr. Klaus Doubek, 1st Chairman and President
Professional Association of Gynaecologists (BVF)
Contact office: bvf@bvf.de

Prof. Dr. Axel Piepgras, President
Professional Association of German Neurosurgery (BDNC)
Contact office: gs@bdnc.de

Dr. Andreas Bobrowski, Chairman
Professional Association of German Laboratory Doctors (BDL)
Contact office: buero-berlin@bdlev.de

Prof. Dr. Detlef Moka, 1st Chairman
Professional Association of German Nuclear Medicine (BDN)
Contact office: herzogenrath@berufsverband-nuklearmedizin.de

Prof. Dr. Bernd Turowski, President
Professional Association of German Neuroradiologists (BDNR)
Contact office: bdnr@drg.de

Jan Henniger, Chairman
Professional Association of Registered Surgeons (BNC)
Contact office: info@bncev.de

Dr. Nikolaus Seeber, President
German Dermatological Laser Society e.V. (DDL)
Contact office: info@ddl.de

PD Dr. Thomas Volz, President
German Society for Dermatosurgery (DGDC)
Contact office: info@cas-kongresse.de

Prof. Dr. Gert Naumann, President
German Society for Gynecology and Obstetrics (DGGG)
Contact office: info@dggg.de

Prof. Dr. Timo Stöver, President
German Society for Ear, Nose and Throat Medicine, Head and Neck Surgery (DGHNO-KHC)
Contact office: info@hno.org

Prof. Dr. Martin Aepfelbacher, President
German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM)
Contact office: office@dghm.de

Prof. Dr. Philipp Marius Paprottka, President
German Society for Interventional Radiology and Minimally Invasive Therapy (DeGIR)
Contact office: degir@drg.de

Prof. Dr. Harald Renz, President
German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine e. V. (DGKL)
Contact office: geschaeftsstelle@dgkl.de

Prof. Dr. med. Hans Clusmann, President
German Society for Neurosurgery (DGNC)
Contact office: gs@dgnc.de

Prof. Dr. Peter Schramm, President
German Society for Neuroradiology (DGNR)
Contact office: dgnr@neuroradiologie.de

Prof. Dr. Michael Schäfers, President
German Society for Nuclear Medicine (DGN)
Contact office: office@nuklearmedizin.de

Prof. Dr. Sara Yvonne Brucker, Chairwoman
German Society for Senology (DGS)
Contact office: office@senologie.org

Prof. Dr. Torsten Doenst, President
German Society for Thoracic, Cardiovascular and Vascular Surgery (DGTHG)
Contact office: info@dgthg.de

Dr. Karsten Pracht, President
German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine - DEGUM e.V.
Contact office: geschaeftsstelle@degum.de

Prof. Dr. Maximilian Burger, Secretary General and Spokesman of the Executive Board
Prof. Dr. Bernd Wullich, President
German Society of Urology (DGU)Contact office: info@dgu.de

Prof. Dr. Konstantin Nikolaou, President
German Radiological Society (DRG)
Contact office: office@drg.de

Prof. Dr. Ulf Dittmer, President
Society of Virology e.V. (GfV)
Contact office: geschaeftsstelle@g-f-v.org

Contact for queries and further information:
kontakt@goaeneu-so-nicht.de

PDF version of the statement