Korruption im Gesundheitswesen

Description

With the Act to Counter Corruption in the Health Care Sector (Gesetz zur Bekämpfung von Korruption im Gesundheitswesen), which came into force on 04.06.2016, §§ 299a, 299b StGB were incorporated into the Criminal Code. Bribery and corruption became a criminal offence for Health Care Professionals, including registered physicians.

The paper analyses the legislative process and the new additions to the 26th section of the Criminal Code. Most of the criteria included in § 299a are very wide-ranging, so that in most cases criminal liability will be decided on the evidence of a wrongful agreement (Unrechtsvereinbarung). As an indicator of the wrongful agreement, the disproportion between the service provided by the physician and the remuneration granted to him can be referred to. The disproportion may indicate that the increased remuneration compensates services that are not contractually fixed, such as the inadmissible allocation of patients.

The assessment as to whether there is a disproportion is possible through a two-step evaluation. On the first step, the baseline amount of compensation results from a comparison of the medical service provided by the physician with the remuneration for this specific service according to the existing remuneration systems, for example GOÄ or EBM. If this baseline amount is not exceeded, it can already be assumed on the first step that only the medical service and nothing else is to be compensated with the remuneration.