Vertragsarztuntreue

Statutory health insurance in Germany guarantees comprehensive medical care for everyone. However, the system also confronts physicians with challenges: They care for the well-being of their patients, but in this context they also affect the financial interests of the health insurance funds, since their medical treatment is subject to the requirement of economic efficiency under social law. In this conflict situation, a tension between the task of patient treatment and that of property care arises. This tension is usually updated by the prescription activity of physicians under property criminal law. Whether SHI-accredited physicians are, in this respect, in fact both guardians of the patients’ well-being and the financial caretakers according to section 266 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) is the subject of this study. It is developed based on current case law with particular consideration of the role of SHI-accredited physicians in the system of statutory health insurance.