In the interests of our customers

Healthcare is closely linked to political and regulatory initiatives. In the interest of its customers and service providers, the Ecclesia Group is therefore focusing on a new form of political communication. A “Parliamentary Breakfast” of the Ecclesia Group on the topic of patient rights and patient safety was held for the first time in Berlin with high-level guests from politics and associations.
In the insurance market, many of the Ecclesia Group's business activities are directly or indirectly affected by regulatory/political initiatives. The same applies to the business activities of the large number of customers in the health, social and industrial sectors, for example.
The implementation of both our own strategic business objectives and those of our customers is therefore closely linked to knowing the political framework in Germany and the European Union, or at least the political plans. With this knowledge, room for manoeuvre can be maintained or new room for manoeuvre can be developed.
This requires continuous observation and analysis of political events in Berlin and Brussels, as well as transparent exchange with political decision-makers in the Bundestag and ministries, in order to apply the in-depth expertise of the Ecclesia Group.
In short: only if the Ecclesia Group is known in politics and knows the political environment is Ecclesia able to help shape the future in the sense of its own corporate goals and those of its customers.
Ecclesia's goal is to establish a new information and knowledge management system across all business areas in order to combine the substantive expertise of the specialist departments with the procedural expertise of political communication.
To this end, structures are being created to identify regulatory challenges at an early stage and to react accordingly. A current example is the announcement by the Federal Ministry of Health that the current Patients' Rights Act is to be revised.
The first key points are to be published by the middle of the year. It is already known that the position of patients in the event of medical errors is to be strengthened in the existing liability system. In addition, a hardship fund with capped claims is to be introduced.
As part of the newly established political communication, the Ecclesia Group's first “Parliamentary Breakfast” was held in Berlin at the end of March. The topic: the further development of patient rights and patient safety. Carsten Stracke, managing director of the Ecclesia Group, and Johannes Jaklin, authorized signatory of hevianna Versicherungsdienst, explained the challenges and risks associated with the planned measures from the Ecclesia Group's point of view to the high-ranking political guests, including the Federal Government Commissioner for Patients' Affairs, Stefan Schwartze, and the responsible department head in the Federal Chancellery, Gesa Miehe-Nordmeyer.
For the Ecclesia Group, all political measures must serve to strengthen patient safety without unreasonably restricting service providers or massively increasing costs for the healthcare system. In particular, the one-sided strengthening of the patient through a planned change in the standard of proof for causality between medical malpractice and health damage could lead to unwanted side effects. For example, avoiding certain treatments for fear of liability suits could increase health risks for patients.
Insurance companies also face the threat of higher claims costs, which can lead to higher premiums and thus to an increase in healthcare costs overall, or even make it impossible to insure certain clinics. From Ecclesia's point of view, it is therefore important to have a differentiated regulation that does not disadvantage medical service providers and sustainably strengthens innovations in patient safety.
The presentation was followed by a lively discussion on how to meaningfully strengthen patient rights and maximize patient safety. All participants agreed that the current rules are effective and that further efforts are needed to improve patient safety.