#Germany has increased the number of intensive care #beds quite quickly, from 28k to 40k, of which 15-20k are available. I was curious why, so I asked a health economist. /thread

First of all, #Germany has too many hospitals and too many beds. That is largely agreed among experts. But it’s suicidal for local politicians to close a hospital. /2

So the „solution“ was to let small, inefficient #hospitals die slowly, by squeezing the margins they can earn, creating bad incentives in the process. /3

Now, a #Covid19 law was enacted in record speed to give strong financial incentives to hospitals to create Covid19 beds and protect hospital solvency. /4

#Hospitals now receive a €560 a day for each regular bed that is free compared to last year's average, to create incentives to postpone procedures. /5

#Hospitals receive €50k per Covid19-ready intensive care bed that they add by September 30th; 50 Euro per patient admission for extra protective gear; and are allowed to go over their negotiated budget without deductions. /6

Finally, #hospitals are relieved from lots of usually necessary red tape, such as auditing where the maximum quota is reduced from 12.5 to 5%. Insurances also need to pay invoices within 5 days, to improve hospital liquidity. /end

PS: Grateful for comments and corrections, or additions how this works in practice or in other countries. #hospitals