A milestone for nursing care in Germany - on January 1, 2017, the second of three Nursing Strengthening Acts comes into effect.

There are currently 2.7 million people in need of care in Germany. The trend is rising. A good two-thirds of them are cared for by their relatives. While the first Care Strengthening Act supports care at home and thus the caregiving relatives, the law that will come into effect on January 1, 2017, introduces an entirely new concept of care dependency. This will be accompanied by a fundamentally changed assessment tool.

Care Strengthening Act I

With the entry into force of the first Care Strengthening Act (PSG I) on January 1, 2015, family caregivers and outpatient care were particularly strengthened. Since then, short-term care and preventive care can be combined. Day and night care can be used alongside outpatient financial and in-kind services without any reduction. Additionally, new relief services were introduced, such as low-threshold care offers by everyday companions or household helpers. An offer that can now also be used by those who are exclusively or predominantly physically impaired and in need of care. Furthermore, necessary conversion measures and everyday aids required for care are more heavily subsidized.

A relief especially for caregivers of dementia patients with care level 0 are the benefits of partial inpatient day and night care, short-term care, and for outpatient supervised living groups.

Care Strengthening Act II

The second Act to Strengthen Long-Term Care (PSG II), which will come into effect next year, is according to the Federal Ministry of Health a Milestone for Care in Germany and the foundation for more individuality in care. From January 1, 2017, the new definition of the need for care and the new assessment procedure apply, in which the previous three care levels are replaced by Five levels of care be replaced. This will allow the individual abilities and impairments of those in need of care to be recorded more precisely in the future and services to be used more appropriately.

Dementia patients benefit

The assessment will focus solely on the impairments of independence and the abilities of those affected when determining the classification. The elimination of the differing consideration of physical, mental, and psychological impairments especially benefits those with dementia. They will be easier to classify into a care grade in the future and will then also be entitled to care and relief services as well as monthly care benefits.

In the future, all people in need of care will also receive tailored assistance aimed at maintaining and strengthening independence and skills.

No one is put at a disadvantage

To ensure that the newly introduced care levels nobody worse off Simple transitional rules apply to all whose need for care was determined by the end of 2016. Those in need of care with purely physical limitations will, for example, be automatically classified into care level 2 or 3 from care level I or II.

Financing of Services

These innovations are funded by raising the contribution to long-term care insurance by 0.2 percentage points to 2.55 percent, or 2.8 percent for those without children, of the gross salary. According to Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe (CDU) and the federal government, it is hoped that the contributions to long-term care insurance can remain unchanged until 2022.

Outlook: Nursing Strengthening Act III

With the third Strengthening Care Act (PSG II), which is still in development, the focus will be placed on local care – in the communities. The declared aim of PSG III will be to enable people in need of care to remain in their familiar environment for as long as possible.

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