Due to irregularities in the billing and quality of the corona rapid tests, the Federal Ministry of Health is planning a new version of the test regulation, according to a report.
This provides for a reduction in the remuneration for the tests, reports the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing a new key issues paper.
It states that the "multitude of different remuneration options and the amount of current remuneration" offer "incentives for strategic behavior".
A first draft of the new test regulation should therefore be presented at the beginning of next week.
The aim is to "standardize the different remuneration options and adjust the amount".
Accordingly, the remuneration for the swab should be set at eight euros instead of the current amount of 15 euros.
Material costs are only to be reimbursed at a flat rate of three euros instead of the previous six euros.
More controls on quality standards
According to the key issues paper, more stringent controls are also planned.
The responsible authorities of the federal states and municipalities should therefore check compliance with quality standards and the reliability of the service providers - "when commissioning, but also by randomly visiting test sites".
The statutory health insurance associations that are responsible for billing should be given “the explicit mandate” to check the legality and plausibility of the bills.
Retrospective spot checks are also planned accordingly.
Recently there had been increased reports of fraud in the free citizen tests.
The operators of test centers, for example, have so far not even had to prove that they have even bought rapid antigen tests in order to be reimbursed.