The MHC reform for adults is often called “Project 107”, referring to the article 107 of the Hospital Act which states that “The King may provide for specific funding methods to enable, on an experimental basis and limited in time, the prospective and programme-oriented funding of care circuits and networks”.
In concrete terms, this means that hospitals can temporarily decommission some of their beds or freeze them. This ‘bed freeze’ is on a voluntary basis following consultation between the network partners and subject to approval by the federal government. Approval implies a budget guarantee for the hospital that decommissions beds. As of 1/01/2020, 2,178 beds were decommissioned.
Number of beds decommissioned per region (01/01/2020)[1]
The staff freed up by the decommissioning of the beds can be deployed in alternative care. In practice, these are mobile teams for specialised care in the home environment or more staff is deployed to residential care.
2,178 beds were decommissioned in favour of mobile teams and intensified health care
[1] Source: Psycho-social Healthcare Service, FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment