Berlin – November 07, 2026 -- The Marburger Bund is calling on the German government to scrap the increase in Medical Service (MD) audit quotas and hospital invoice thresholds planned for January 1, 2027. The doctors' association estimates the change would force hospitals to hire 1,500 to 3,000 additional staff nationwide.
Marburger Bund calls the current audit procedure neither practical nor economical
The demand comes from a resolution passed by the association's 148th General Assembly in Berlin. The resolution describes the existing audit-quota procedure as neither practical nor economically sensible.
Higher quotas would require one to two extra full-time staff per hospital
The association estimates each hospital would need to hire one to two full-time employees to handle the additional audits. Across all German hospitals, that adds up to 1,500 to 3,000 workers.
Physicians and nursing staff would face further limits on their working time. Surgeons, treating physicians and nurses often have to explain cases months after treatment. The personnel recruited for the added audits, both in hospitals and at the MD, would be missing from patient care, the association argues.
Audit bureaucracy already absorbs 36% of recovered payments
The association also questions the overall economic benefit of the planned regime. Even before counting hospitals' own effort, about 36% of the repayments achieved were consumed by the audit bureaucracy itself.
Association proposes certified statistical sampling instead
The Marburger Bund advocates a certified sampling procedure that would significantly reduce staffing demands for all parties involved. It cites Monetary Unit Sampling (MUS) with extrapolation to the full population, a mathematical-statistical method used in financial auditing worldwide.