[Outpatient specialist medical care: what is possible, what will come?]

The guidelines on outpatient specialist medical treatment (ASV) according to § 116b of the Social Act were published by the Federal Joint Committee on 21 March 2013. The guidelines regulate the framework conditions for the new area of healthcare and the requirements for potential participants. The ASV guidelines are designed to ultimately bridge the sectorial borders for the treatment of rare diseases and those with unusual courses. In the past the reforms in § 116b have not fulfilled the criteria expected by the legislation. The reforms have already led to an increase in the costs for medical services by a factor of 50 within 6 years. The spectrum of diseases to be treated has remained practically unchanged. The healthcare providers must now fulfil a catalogue of prerequisites which will be formulated by the Federal Joint Committee for each entity in the still to be provided annexes to the guidelines in order to be approved on notification by the extended National Committee. The guidelines are based on the prototype further education regulations according to the old law. An important detail is the obligatory formation of cooperation and teams for all participants outside the traditional sectorial limits. Each partner must perform the duties at least 1 day in the week at the site of the team leader. Specific and organizational requirements, extent of treatment and lower limits will be regulated by the still to be formulated annexes. Costing and business effectiveness will be tested by the medical services. No patient has yet been treated under the ASV but the winner is already known: bureaucracy.