German Medical Story

I noticed this German medical news yesterday, coming out via several sources, and it was a bit odd in nature.

Germany, like most western countries....has a problem where too many folks are showing up at the emergency room on weekends....with fairly marginal injuries or wounds.  It's too the point that the insurance companies, the hospitals and the doctors.....agree, something needs to be done.

So, they've done the research and come to this idea.  It's not going to be nationwide, and I suspect it'll only involve a limited number of hospitals and insurance companies.

The deal is this.....you come up on Friday night with some wound (like your wife accidentally tripped you up, and you fell down the stairs).

You have this number to call.  A German 1-800 number.  Some doctor will answer.  You state your issues.  It's bad but it's not broken.  He goes through eight questions, and then he puts you on hold. 

Three minutes pass, and then he comes back on.  He's got you an appointment with a special doctor for these types of injuries, at 10 AM on Monday.  He says you don't need the emergency room, but you have a serious injury, and your local guy is not going to be able to handle it.  Put some ice on the leg and just wait till Monday.  In the past, you would have seen your local doctor, and then spent three days waiting for an appointment with the expert.

Now, I'm going to guess how this will be accepted by the German public, but I suspect that it will cut 30-to-40 percent of the traffic down from emergency rooms.  Maybe that's a positive.