Future financing of pediatric and adolescent hospitals

The financial situation of many children's clinics or children's departments has been tense for years and often loss-making. This led to a decline in the number of children's hospital beds over the years and to bottlenecks in the supply of care in individual regions. One of the causes of the economic problem is the diagnosis-related groups (DRG) billing system, which does not adequately reflect and reimburse the costs of a children's clinic. The below-average occupancy of beds with a short length of stay, the high level of staff deployment and the provision of child-friendly structures also cause deficits. It is urgently necessary to adapt the remuneration system to pediatric medicine. Retention allowances would be a good way to go if the basis does not depend on cases and their severity. A basic support for children's clinics, i.e., a safeguarding and full financing of the structural provisions of a clinic for pediatric and adolescent medicine, is necessary.