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Social insurance and the Medical Association have agreed on COVID tests in doctor’s offices for high-risk patients. The Ministry of Health provides an update on case numbers.
In the future, doctors will receive twelve euros from social insurance for a corona test in the doctor’s office and a further 13 euros for a consultation about possible treatment with the drug Paxlovid. “The risk group is covered in good time before the fall season. The free tests provide the basis for a decision on the use of Paxlovid,” explained Peter Lehner, co-chair of the Conference of Social Insurance Institutions, on Thursday, adding: “I would like to thank Edgar Wutscher and his team for the constructive and solution-oriented discussions.”
Wutscher, Vice President of the Austrian Medical Association and Federal Chairman of the General Practitioners’ Association, was pleased with the agreement. “I am glad that we can now quickly start free testing again. This means that in the event of a COVID infection, we can once again help risk groups to get a free medication that can spare them a serious course of the disease and also reduce the likelihood of long-COVID,” said Wutscher. The agreement will apply from October 1, 2024, for the duration of the possibility of prescribing Paxlovid from the EKO. It will be implemented with the individual health insurance providers. There had previously been criticism from the Vienna Chamber and the Ministry because the negotiations had taken so long.
After the Vienna Medical Association warned of a “catastrophic corona situation”, the Ministry of Health has given the all-clear. The situation is similar to that of the previous year and there is “no great cause for concern,” said Katharina Reich, Director General for Public Health, in the Ö1 midday journal. “Both our wastewater monitoring and our dashboard regarding hospital admissions and also our sentinel surveillance – that is, the information from the practices of the practicing physicians – show a constant but slow increase in infections. This development is almost the same as last year,” Reich told Ö1. There are also no signs that the situation in the intensive care units could worsen again. According to Reich, the number of admissions due to Covid in recent weeks is “almost in the single digits.” There is no reason to be concerned in any way here. “We have sufficient capacity,” emphasized the Director General. (red)
