Federal Council report on the quality of doctors
The Federal Council's report on the licensing of physicians includes qualitative points on the succession of physicians. To ensure a high level of patient safety, the FMH is therefore calling for an admission control system that is based on four easily measurable and effective quality criteria: Proof of language competence, necessary duration of training, further training at a recognised training centre and lifelong further training.
The present Federal Council report deals with qualitative proposals that do not correspond per se to price regulations. The report shows that the restriction of the free choice of doctor for patients as well as the control via different prices for the same service can lead to disadvantages in the Swiss healthcare market. For this reason, the Federal Council is orienting itself towards the working models of service providers: doctors also increasingly want to work part-time, which is why full-time equivalents should be taken into account. The task now is to continue to gear the licensing of doctors after 2019 even more consistently to patient safety.
Quality criteria of the FMH
At the beginning of March 2017, the Federal Council provided information for the first time on the succession plan for doctors in Switzerland. The current practice has proven its worth: Currently, doctors must have worked for at least three years at a Swiss-recognised postgraduate training institution in order to work as a freelance doctor.
The FMH demands that the following four demonstrably effective quality criteria must be fulfilled cumulatively in order for doctors to be licensed:
- Language competence: Doctors must demonstrate the language competence required in their region of practice in a language examination taken in Switzerland.
- Duration of training: The study of human medicine comprises six years of full-time study or at least 5,500 hours of theoretical and practical instruction.
- Further training: Doctors must have worked as clinical doctors for at least three years at a recognised training centre in the specialist discipline applied for admission with a workload of at least 80%. In the case of a smaller workload, the required clinical activity is extended accordingly.
- Proof of continuing education: After acquiring the title of continuing education (specialist), physicians must continue their education throughout their entire professional life. Continuing education can be demanded periodically in all 46 specialties and is thus a clearly verifiable and easily verifiable quality criterion.
From the point of view of the FMH, patient safety must be guaranteed at all costs. A new licensing regulation must take into account the fact that a large proportion of doctors wishing to work in Switzerland come from abroad. At the same time, admission criteria must also guarantee high-quality medical care by young Swiss doctors.
