From October, the fee schedule for veterinarians will be adjusted again for the first time in 20 years. This means price increases of 20-50% for patient owners. Continue to protect your pet optimally with good pet insurance!
New fee schedule for veterinarians approved by the Federal Cabinet
The BMEL is finally adjusting the fee schedule for veterinarians (GOT). The basis is a thorough examination of veterinary services and their appropriate billing. Are the GOT fee rates still current? Many veterinarians would probably answer this question with “no.” The last major change to the BAV dates back to 1999, and many general conditions and cost points have changed since then. Veterinary medicine has made enormous progress in the last 20 years, but further adjustments to the GOT, such as the introduction of an emergency service fee in February 2020, are rather marginal. In May 2022, the Federal Cabinet approved the new version of the GOT presented by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).
The new version still needs to be approved by the Federal Council, after which it could come into force in October 2022. The GOT report In May 2020, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) commissioned Prof. Dr. Eberhard Haunhorst from the Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES) and AFC Public Services GmbH was commissioned to examine “the financial and structural effects on the appropriateness of tariffs for veterinarians”. The final report of the study will now be available in November 2021. In addition to the literature and statistical analysis, 25 interviews were conducted with experts from various interest groups. The investigators interviewed experts from professional veterinary associations, animal breeding associations, universities and authorities, companies and insurance companies as well as practicing veterinarians. In addition, an online survey was conducted among 1,300 practicing veterinarians throughout Germany.
The reference point for the reassessment of the GOT was a draft from the Federal Veterinary Association from 2012 , so that nothing was changed in the structure and the catalog of services. Expert opinion: Price increases will be the result.
The survey among doctors showed that an average of 1.44 fees are charged in normal practice, while 2.25 times as much is charged in emergency services (2019). The highest rate was charged by horse doctors in normal practice, while small animal doctors in emergency services performed best. Veterinarians felt that adjustment was needed, particularly in terms of daily and frequent services (general examination, check-up, consultation and injections). We would also like to charge more for castrations, anesthesia, x-rays, laboratory tests and blood tests.
The experts surveyed saw an urgent need to adapt GOT to current treatment options, particularly for small animals and horses. In his opinion, there is an urgent need to increase fees, especially for services with high equipment costs, such as: B. modern imaging techniques. However, setting fees in such a way that they are economical for veterinarians and justifiable for animal owners is a challenge - especially in livestock farming. However, the practical importance of the GOT is decreasing somewhat, particularly for poultry and pigs, as more and more lump sum payments are made under support contracts.
And how much should a visit to the vet cost now?
The GOT does not specify flat-rate prices, but rather tariffs for individual treatment steps. Services can be charged 1 to 3 times the fare. To make appropriate tariff proposals, investigators conducted an economic calculation based on full costs. All costs of a veterinary practice were taken into account and reduced to the price for one minute of veterinary treatment: These costs amount to 2.27 euros in individual practices and 2.14 euros in group practices. This corresponds to a weighted average of €2.25 per minute of treatment . To determine the prices for the individual services, the time spent was multiplied by the cost of one minute of treatment. The result is newly determined fee rates for each point of the GOT, e.g.:
The prices listed were adopted unchanged from the report into the BMEL draft law:
- Advice: 11.26 euros
- General examination with advice for dogs, cats, ferrets: 23.62 euros
- castration tomcat 30.32;
- Male 70.60 euros
- Ovariectomy cat 56.48 euros;
- Female 128.27 euros
That's why we encourage all pet owners to purchase pet health insurance like ours after the price increase !