© dpa
Berlin hospitals received their first payments for investments from a federal-state program at the beginning of February.
Around 8.9 million euros from the so-called Hospital Future Fund have been paid out to six hospitals in the capital, the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (Lageso) announced on Thursday. Accordingly, "necessary investments in modern technical equipment and processes of the hospitals are to be supported".
The Hospital Future Fund was established in October 2020. The federal government provided a total of three billion euros for this purpose; according to the Lageso, Berlin accounts for about 150 million euros, which the state of Berlin is topping up with 64 million euros. "The funding volume of 214 million euros will be completely exhausted due to the large number of applications," the Lageso announced. The period for disbursements runs until the end of 2025.
With the start of the disbursements, Berlin's hospitals will now gradually receive the "urgently needed" financial resources for technical acquisitions and digital modernizations, Lageso President Alexander Straßmeir announced. In Berlin, according to the office, the funding will be used, among other things, for digitalized patient portals, digitalized care and treatment documentation and digitalized medication management.