Healthy Kinzigtal: Higher quality medical care leads to lower increases in expenses

12.01.2012 13:49

Higher quality and preventative medical care leads to a lower increase in expenditure. This is proven by current economic data for the almost 2,000 people insured by the Agricultural Health Insurance Fund (LKK) Baden-Württemberg in the Healthy Kinzigtal Integrated Care Model. Their data was evaluated for the first time for the years 2005 to 2010. The costs of LKK insured people from Kinzigtal developed significantly more positively during this period than in a comparison group of LKK insured people from other regions of Baden-Württemberg.

Higher quality and preventative medical care leads to a lower increase in expenditure. This is proven by current economic data for the almost 2,000 people insured by the Agricultural Health Insurance Fund (LKK) Baden-Württemberg in the Healthy Kinzigtal Integrated Care Model. Their data was evaluated for the first time for the years 2005 to 2010. The costs of LKK insured people from Kinzigtal developed significantly more positively during this period than in a comparison group of LKK insured people from other regions of Baden-Württemberg. In Kinzigtal, a positive cost difference of €327 per insured person was achieved in 2010 compared to 2005 [Info graphic 1]. “The result is all the more astonishing because it reflects the average per capita difference of all LKK insured people in Kinzigtal and not just the members enrolled in Gesundes Kinzigtal and treated by cooperating service providers. These efficiency gains are made possible through targeted prevention, cross-sector, interdisciplinary care and more than 20 special health programs for individual indications and life situations,” emphasizes Helmut Hildebrandt, Managing Director of Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH and Board Member of OptiMedis AG.

Moderate increase in hospital cases

This positive cost development has several reasons. In 2010, expenditure on medicines and hospital stays, among other things, was lower than in the comparison group. This is reflected in the number of hospital cases. These increased by 10.2% among LKK insured people in Kinzigtal between 2005 and 2010, whereas in the comparison group the increase was 33.1% [Info-Graphic 2]. “Continuous improvements in outpatient care can prevent unnecessary hospital stays,” emphasizes Dr. med. Horst E. Michalek, spokesman for the Medical Advisory Board in Kinzigtal.

Guideline-based care in Kinzigtal

These results are confirmed by an external evaluation by scientists from the PMV research group at the University of Cologne. These evaluate, among other things, guideline-based care for patients with hypertension, the most common reason for treatment in the outpatient sector for those insured by the LKK. In 2008, the Kinzigtal hypertension patients with documented CHD (70.2%) received guideline-compliant beta-blocker therapy significantly more often than a comparison group from Baden-Württemberg standardized according to age and gender (61.5%) [Info graphic 3]. The Kinzigtal also performs better when it comes to multi-medication management: the proportion of LKK insured people with multi-medication was 2.5 to 3.4 percentage points lower than in the comparison group between 2004 and 2008. In 2008, the proportion of insured people with multimedication in Kinzigtal was 5.6% and in the comparison group 9.0%. “We achieve a double benefit in Kinzigtal. Expenses are increasing at a disproportionately low rate, while at the same time the quality of medical care for our insured persons is improving,” says Harald Riedel, head of the contract department at LKK Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. The health insurance company for farmers and foresters has been a contractual partner of Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH since the end of 2006.
The insured also confirm this success. Monika Schnaiter, patient advisory board in Kinzigtal and vice president of the South Baden Rural Women's Association, runs an agricultural and forestry business with her husband: “The positive effects of integrated care now also benefit those working in agriculture. This is important in a rural region like the Kinzigtal and should be expanded to other regions.”