Austrian Medical Association

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AustriaAustria  Austrian Medical Association (ÖÄK)p1
State level Federal , state
position Legal representation of interests
legal form Public corporation
founding 1891
Headquarters Vienna - Inner City , Weihburggasse 10-12
management President Thomas Szekeres
Website www.aerztekammer.at

The Austrian Medical Chamber is the legal representation of the interests of doctors in Austria . As a state organization, there is a medical association in each state (state medical association). While the state medical associations mainly carry out operational tasks under their own responsibility, the Austrian medical association predominantly performs strategic tasks.

Legal basis

The medical associations are statutory professional interest groups established by the Physicians Act 1998 , to which the following tasks in particular are assigned by the law:

  • Carrying out official tasks, in particular the recognition of training institutions and the conduct of disciplinary proceedings
  • public relation
  • Political advocacy
  • Service tasks for member interests
  • Social security through the welfare fund
  • Economic representation of interests for resident and employed doctors

The medical association is organized on a federal basis. The regional medical associations, which are set up for each federal state, and the Austrian medical association are each independent corporations under public law . In accordance with the principle of self-administration, the organs of the State Medical Associations and the Austrian Medical Association consist of members elected by the medical profession from among their number.

All licensed doctors (with the exception of the numerically small group of official, military and police doctors) are by law members of the state medical associations. The Austrian Medical Association itself consists of the nine regional medical associations. The federal structure is not only reflected in the membership structure of the Austrian Medical Association, but also in the structure of its committees. The President of the Austrian Medical Association must also be the President of one of the State Medical Associations, the executive board and Federal Curia Assemblies of the Austrian Medical Association consist of the respective top representatives of the state medical associations and in the most important bodies, the executive board and the plenary assembly, resolutions can generally only be passed with a two-thirds majority.

In addition to historical reasons, the federal structure is mainly due to the fact that the health system in Austria is very strongly operationalized at the level of the federal states. The federal states are usually the legal entities of the hospitals and provide most of the hospital financing . By far the largest health insurance providers , the regional health insurance funds , with which all employed persons are insured, are organized by federal state. The state's own pension institutions ( pension and health insurance ), which have a considerable share of resources in the operation of the chamber, have historically grown in the federal states and differ considerably in terms of contributions, range of services and actuarial coverage.

In sum, most of the operational tasks are carried out by the regional medical associations on their own responsibility, while the Austrian medical association predominantly performs strategic tasks. Above all, it focuses on the representation of Austrian doctors vis-à-vis the legislature , since essential health care matters in legislation are a federal matter.

The medical association not only includes resident physicians as members, but also physicians who work as employees (especially in hospitals). In accordance with this dichotomy , the Doctors' Act also provides for the formation of a curia for resident doctors and a curia for employed doctors , each headed by a curia chairman.

As with the other chambers, membership in the medical association is compulsory. The organs of the medical association are appointed according to the principle of self-administration. In their own sphere of activity, which includes the majority of the tasks of the Austrian Medical Association and all tasks of the State Medical Associations, the chambers are not subject to instructions from state organs and are only subject to legal supervision or, since 1997, the control of the Court of Audit . The audit of the audit office is much more restricted in the case of chambers than in the case of state organs and does not relate to the resolutions passed in the interests of the representation of interests ( Section 20a, paragraph 1, Audit Office Act ).

Acting Presidents

The presidents of the medical associations in the federal states are currently:

history

The first medical associations were created in Austria in 1891 - albeit with comparatively few tasks. The Austrian medical associations functioned until May 1, 1938. On that day, the provisions of the German Reichsärzteordnung came into force in Austria and the Austrian medical associations were dissolved. In their place came the Reichsärzteführung based in Munich. After the end of the Second World War, the relevant German administrative laws remained in force on the basis of Section 2 of the Legal Transition Act, but provisional professional representations of doctors were formed in all federal states based on the provisions of the Austrian Medical Association Act from 1891, which then essentially legalized by the Austrian Doctors Act of March 30, 1949. With this law, the original version of the modern Austrian medical law, a common umbrella organization in the form of the Austrian Medical Association was set up for the first time to represent the common interests of the regional medical associations.

A complete restructuring of the medical associations came about through the Physicians Act 1998, with which separate organs, the board of trustees, were set up for the specific concerns of employed, resident and dentists and the board of directors was limited to agendas that affect more than one group.

As of January 1, 2006, the dentists left the medical associations, as a separate Austrian Dental Association was set up with the new Dental Association Act . Since the creation of their own supply facility for the dentists was not considered sensible, the dentists remained in the supply facilities of the state medical associations.

President of the Austrian Medical Association

literature

  • Wallner, Felix: Corporate Governance in the Medical Association for Upper Austria
  • Karl Clemens Friedrich Strobl: The Austrian Doctors Act. With comment.
  • Herbert Emberger, Felix Wallner: Medical Law with Commentary: Supplementary Volume 12th & 13th Novelle

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wallner, Felix: Corporate Governance in the Medical Association for Upper Austria , 19–21
  2. ↑ derStandard.at: Thomas Szekeres new President of the Medical Association . Article dated June 23, 2017, accessed June 28, 2017.
  3. ↑ Kleine Zeitung: Petra Preiss: Courageous new doctor boss . Article dated May 14, 2017, accessed June 28, 2017.
  4. ↑ Law of December 22, 1891, RGBl. No. 6/1892 .
  5. ^ German Reichsärzteordnung of December 13, 1935, dRGBl. IS 1433
  6. ↑ Doctors Act of March 30, 1949, Federal Law Gazette No. 92/1949
  7. ^ Karl Clemens Friedrich Strobl: The Austrian Doctors Act. With comment. , 106