Specialist appointments in Saxony-Anhalt: demand is increasing dramatically!

Specialist appointments in Saxony-Anhalt: demand is increasing dramatically!

More and more people in Saxony-Anhalt want to make appointments with specialists through the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV). This is shown by a significant increase in appointment bookings from 54,150 in 2023 to almost 56,100 in 2024. By mid-2024 alone, around 26,300 appointments had already been booked. What is particularly striking is that the number of placement requests rose from 133,276 in 2023 to an impressive 182,612 in 2024. By the end of June 2024, there were still 99,781 placement requests, including multiple searches and unsuccessful requests.

In recent years there has also been a decreasing number of free appointments. While there were around 130,700 available appointments in 2023, this number fell to around 85,300 in 2024, and by June 2024 there were only over 42,000 available appointments. This development may indicate a shortage of doctors, as specialist internists such as gastroenterologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists and rheumatologists are particularly in demand. The booking rate for these specialties rose from 58% in 2023 to a remarkable 86% in 2024. star also reports that the booking rate for psychotherapists has also increased from 72% to almost 88%.

Patient bookings and appointments

Appointments can be arranged via the number 116117 as well as via the 116117 website and app. Not only patients have this option, but referring practices can also arrange appointments via the appointment service point. In Germany, it is enshrined in law that treatment appointments may be arranged a maximum of four weeks in advance and acute psychotherapeutic treatments a maximum of two weeks in advance. The increase in placement requests represents an enormously high demand, while at the same time the KV points out that many appointments remain unused. In 2024, over 14% of patients did not show up for arranged appointments, a number that rose to 18% in 2022.

For general practitioners, pediatricians and ENT doctors, appointment notifications now exceed requests for appointments. In other specialist groups, however, there is more demand than available appointments. In order to meet data processing and ensure data protection requirements, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians manages patients' personal information in accordance with applicable regulations. According to the information from the 116117 appointments Technical and organizational measures are used to ensure data security.

The attitude towards making appointments

In an international comparison, Germany performs well in terms of waiting times for specialist appointments. According to a survey, only 7% of patients in Germany wait longer than two months for a specialist appointment. This is extremely positive compared to Sweden and Norway, where around a third of patients wait that long for an appointment, and Canada, where over 40% of patients have to wait longer than two months. Medical Journal highlights that 83% of patients in Germany wait less than a month for a specialist appointment. In Australia, France and Norway, however, it was only around 50%.

Furthermore, the Statutory Health Insurance Supply Strengthening Act obliges the statutory health insurance associations to set up appointment service points in order to further reduce waiting times for those with statutory health insurance.

The developments in appointment allocation are an important sign of the current state of the health system in Saxony-Anhalt. With increasing demand and decreasing number of available appointments, the pressure on systems is becoming clear. The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians will probably continue to be required to find creative and effective solutions to meet this challenge.