> The event “Health care research meets politics” apparently gave politicians an impulse to seriously place the strengthening of health services research on the health policy agenda of the beginning of the 18th legislative period. The focus of the evening, which was visualized live by an illustrator (picture), was the question of what contribution health services research can make to increasing equity in care and patient orientation in the healthcare system. That's exactly what politicians apparently want now. At least in the coalition agreement there is a declaration of intent that the governing parties intend to “strengthen health services research in order, above all, to improve the everyday care of patients”.
In addition, the chairman of the DNVF, Prof. Edmund Neugebauer (University of Witten-Herdecke), formulated in his lecture on patient orientation the question of whether the structures, processes and results of the current healthcare system are even adequately geared to the wishes and needs of the individual. A question that remained unanswered, which he himself suggested that patient orientation would be the central test for the further development of the healthcare system. This also requires qualified patients. Therefore, it must be a care goal in itself to provide independent, evidence-based patient information.
In his lecture on data access, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hoffmann (University of Greifswald) on revolutions relevant to cardiology for a healthcare researcher. A real breakthrough was achieved with the Supply Structure Act. Health care research is likely to expect to receive a data base from the M-RSA via DIMDI that includes all diagnoses, prescriptions and service expenditure. Unfortunately, there are no regional variants, nor are there insurance periods, times of death or procedure parameters in the hospital.
According to the current coalition agreement, politicians want to correct the former by collecting regional indicators of patient-related expenditure in the future.
Health services research must now also discuss how it can protect itself from data protection, says Hoffmann. Balancing the high value of data protection against the advantages of transparent provision plays a major role here, which is not easy. This is about balancing processes between informational self-determination and improved therapy. Hoffmann: “We have to make progress with social consensus.” On the occasion of the event, the DNVF also presented a paper as a “navigational aid for health policy,” which was developed together with the Bertelsmann Foundation. Key points of a “National Action Plan for Health Services Research” were presented, some of which were also included in the coalition agreement. <<