Westpfalz hospitals cut services under reform

Hospitals in the Westpfalz region will not become Regiokliniken, but individual medical services will be cut due to the national hospital reform. Seven of around 80 hospitals in Rhineland-Palatinate are designated as Regiokliniken, none of which are in the Westpfalz. Starting January 2027, health insurers will generally only pay for services assigned to each hospital by the state. The Städtische Krankenhaus Pirmasens will drop procedures on the liver and pancreas, plus revision knee and hip operations, while the Westpfalz-Klinikum will cut urology in Kusel and pancreas transplants in Kaiserslautern. Patients may face longer travel for planned procedures, with partner clinics in the region taking over dropped services. The Nardini Klinikum has applied for an exemption to its two-site model, which conflicts with the reform's 2-kilometer rule for hospital locations.