Clinic Atlas: Scathing criticism from doctors – "not trustworthy"
Medical associations criticize the hospital atlas. They criticize massive quality problems and warn of possible misdirection of patients.
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The Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) has harshly criticized the Federal Clinic Atlas, which was launched online by the Federal Ministry of Health under the leadership of Karl Lauterbach in mid-May. According to the AWMF statement, the clinic atlas is not suitable for adequately advising patients in selection processes. "On the contrary, patients can be misguided," warn the medical experts and call for the Clinic Atlas to be shut down, or at least clearly marked as a "preliminary" or "beta version" - until more trustworthy information is incorporated.
"Medically dangerous information" and long-closed departments
According to the AWMF, "predominantly useless, sometimes incorrect and sometimes medically dangerous information" was provided in test requests. For example, in the case of conditions requiring acute treatment, there was no indication that this was an emergency indication that needed to be treated immediately on site. This was reported by Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, which had received the AWMF's statement.
The AWMF also criticizes that departments that have been closed for a long time are also listed. The Federal Hospital Atlas "is full of errors and in its current form is no help for patients - the claims of the Federal Ministry of Health to provide useful and trustworthy information are completely discredited, according to further accusations.
Not even two weeks after the publication of the hospital atlas, the German Hospital Association (DKG) was already hailing criticism. The information is misleading and specializations are not included in the corresponding results lists, according to the accusations. However, according to the Federal Ministry of Health, many problems have since been rectified and Lauterbach emphasized that the Federal Hospital Atlas is a learning system that is constantly being improved and enhanced with the help of artificial intelligence.
As with every major IT project, there were a few teething problems in the first few days, Lauterbach explained in response to criticism from the DKG.
(bme)
