chief doctor
Head physician (female chief physician ) describes a doctor in Germany in a leading position, usually in a hospital. The Austrian name for it is Primarius , Primararzt , Primar , feminine Primaria . Head physician has a different colloquial meaning in Austria: doctor of a health insurance company who z. B. carries out the control of the sick leave as well as health economic issues (especially regarding remedies, pharmaceuticals, health products) - comparable to the German medical service of the health insurance.
Job Description
The designation is not limited to hospitals, so that senior physicians from other facilities, such as sanatoriums , laboratories , etc., are sometimes referred to as chief physicians. In some federal states (e.g. Hamburg ) the designation head physician is officially used, which corresponds to the chief physician. Within the respective institution, the chief physician typically bears comprehensive responsibility for a medically delimited sub-area, e.g. B. a department. He is always a specialist in the relevant area. In addition to the medical responsibility, the chief physician usually has a disciplinary responsibility , at least for the doctors, often also for psychologists , social workers , occupational and physiotherapists . As chief physician, he is also responsible for the department's economic profitability.
At university clinics, the habilitation is a prerequisite for being appointed head physician or head physician of the department; several departments, which are led by chief physicians or senior physicians, are then a ( university ) clinic, which is led by a director (in Austria : board of directors). Since every hospital, according to the Hospital Design Act, requires, among other things, a medical director in the management , this is usually selected from the ranks of chief physicians working in the hospital.
In the hospital, the chief physician is responsible for the medical and structural processes in his department: He is supposed to monitor the activities of the senior physicians who work under his responsibility and, together with them, to guide the resident physicians in their work. As part of a chief physician's visit, he visits patients in a ward. The purpose is to advise their senior or ward physicians about previous and future diagnostics and therapy . In smaller clinics and hospitals, he has to take part in the specialist “background service” by being available for advice and assistance at night and on weekends in addition to the doctors who are on call there.
In hospitals, chief physicians usually have specially negotiated employment contracts that give them extensive freedom with regard to the division of work and private liquidation (private billing of services with patients, usually via private health insurance ). As a rule, only chief physicians and senior physicians, as representatives of the chief physician, are entitled to arrange private liquidations and thus also treat private patients in the hospital. In return, the hospital receives a share of the gross income from the private medical sector from all chief physicians. For the hospital owner, this is an interesting source of income and an impulse to tie as many chief physicians as possible to the clinic, who can be expected to have a high proportion of private doctors. It may be part of the contractual duties of a chief physician in a hospital in which members of a statutory health insurance are treated, to carry out an individual visit and consultation with the patient, or to discuss the patient's case individually with the ward and senior physicians. There is no legal entitlement under SGB V to this. However, the chief physician may pass on the daily treatment and regular visits to other (senior) physicians.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Summons to the chief physician. OÖGKK, accessed July 12, 2019