BVMed supports DDG demand: combating diabetes and obesity as a priority policy goal
11.08.2021 11:43
The Federal Association of Medical Technology, BVMed, supports the demand of the German Diabetes Society (DDG) that the fight against diabetes and obesity must become a priority policy goal in the new legislative period.
In its recently presented 12-point plan for implementing the National Diabetes Strategy, BVMed also emphasized the close connection between diabetes and obesity and called for holistic treatment approaches. “One basis is the anchoring of regular obesity therapies in the statutory catalog of services and the development of sufficient training and further education capacities in this area,” says BVMed managing director Dr. Marc Pierre Möll.
According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), around a quarter of the approximately 66 million adult German citizens suffer from obesity. Obesity and diabetes are closely linked. “Similar to the successful treatment of diabetes, the care of people with obesity requires multimodal therapy and lifestyle changes for the patient. Here too, a holistic treatment approach is essential to ensure individual therapeutic success,” says the BVMed position paper, which can be found at www.bvmed.de/12gegenDiabetes can be retrieved.
The planned introduction of an obesity disease management program (DMP) is an important step from BVMed's perspective. “However, simply creating a DMP with a restructuring of the few existing services will not solve the existing supply deficit. Rather, for regular obesity therapy – analogous to diabetes therapy – it is also necessary to anchor the core elements of guideline-compliant therapy in the legal catalog of services,” says BVMed. This must be accompanied by an improvement in further training and further education. “The state medical associations must build up sufficient training and further education capacities in the area of obesity therapy,” is the BVMed demand.
In its position paper, the German Medical Technology Association also calls for the introduction of a national diabetes register, diabetes screening during preventive examinations for children, adolescents and adults, and the establishment of diabetes chairs to strengthen technology-based diabetes therapy. BVMed is also in favor of including telemedical diabetes treatments in the EBM catalog and the DMP programs. “In the coming legislative period, the National Diabetes Strategy adopted in 2020 must be brought to life and consistently implemented. The previous efforts must be further developed and networked with a focus on a holistic solution approach. After all, diabetes touches all areas of life. “That’s why a large number of service providers have to be involved in healthcare,” comments BVMed managing director Dr. Marc Pierre Möll.
As a trade association, BVMed represents around 230 manufacturers and suppliers in the medical technology industry as well as medical aid service providers and homecare providers. The medical device industry employs over 235,000 people in Germany and invests around 9 percent of its sales in research and development. The industry's total turnover is over 34 billion euros, and the export quota is 66 percent. 93 percent of MedTech companies are SMEs. BVMed is the voice of the German MedTech industry and especially the MedTech medium-sized companies.