German enteral feeding decision "is electioneering"
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The honorary chairman of the statutory health insurance physicians of the German federal state of Hesse, Dr Jurgen Bausch, last week accused the federal ministry of health of delaying a decision on enteral feeding (see Clinica No 1009, p 5) in order to win time ahead of the forthcoming general election September. He said that the ministry had known about the decision of the federal committee of doctors and sickness funds to remove enteral feeding from the catalogue of reimbursable procedures since 1999, when it was presented with draft proposals for amendments to the pharmaceutical guidelines. "But two months after the committee's decision of June 2, it suddenly occurred to the ministry that a health technology assessment (HTA) report would be needed in order to be sure of the move," said Dr Bausch.