Healthy Kinzigtal: a role model for tomorrow's care
07.06.2016 15:20
Health politicians and health experts agree: the sector boundaries in the health care system need to be made more permeable and patient orientation needs to be strengthened. Only then will we be able to meet the changing care requirements of an aging society. Regional structures are becoming increasingly important. Innovative forms of care such as Gesundes Kinzigtal can provide important innovation impulses. This is one result of the parliamentary evening organized by Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH, MQNK eV and OptiMedis AG in Berlin on June 6th.
The new State Secretary in the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration, Bärbl Mielich, made it clear in her welcoming speech to the 200 guests: “The Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration stands behind the Healthy Kinzigtal model. We see this as a model for the whole of Baden-Württemberg for regional assumption of supply responsibility. With its concept of health care that is holistic, cross-sectoral, interprofessional and innovative, Gesundes Kinzigtal has taken a new path that relies on comprehensive care and at the same time strengthens patients' personal responsibility. A successful future model for us.”
Other speakers of the evening included Bundestag members Hilde Mattheis (SPD), Dr. Harald Terpe (Alliance 90/The Greens) and Kordula Kovac (CDU), whose constituency is in the Kinzigtal, representatives of the two contractual partner funds, AOK Baden-Württemberg and Social Insurance for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SVLFG), as well as the health expert Prof. Dr. Gerd Glaeske.
Benefits and efficiency have been repeatedly proven
“Criteria such as sustainability, efficiency and quality are becoming increasingly important for health care in an aging society,” emphasized Prof. Glaeske. It became clear on Monday evening that innovative care structures and processes lead to better results and greater efficiency. Two data from the Kinzigtal illustrate this.
In the first five years after the intervention, significantly longer survival times were measured among insured people who were enrolled in integrated care: They had 617 fewer years of potential life lost (YPLL) than a comparison group. This is the result a controlled cohort study in which 6,482 enrolled insured people were compared in a comparative design with the same number of non-enrolled insured people who were comparable in terms of age, gender and disease status.
In terms of efficiency of care, Gesundes Kinzigtal was able to achieve a positive contribution margin for the eighth year in a row. For the total of 33,000 insured people of the two contractual partner funds, AOK Baden-Württemberg and Agricultural Health Insurance in the SVLFG, this amounted to almost 5.5 million euros gross in 2014. Each person insured in Kinzigtal therefore costs an average of 166 euros less than the national average. The contribution margin profit results from the difference between the expected costs and the actual costs of the insured in Kinzigtal, which is based on the entire insured population of the two health insurance companies. The contracting parties share these relative cost savings and also use them for the management of integrated care, the intervention instruments and investments in the infrastructure.
Development laboratory for innovations and role model for other regions
Dr. H. c. On Monday evening, Helmut Hildebrandt, board member of OptiMedis AG and managing director of Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH, described the Kinzigtal as a development laboratory for innovative care elements and for the realignment of economic incentives in favor of increased patient benefit. “The intervention in Kinzigtal, which has now been going on for over ten years, contributes to better medical and economic care for the insured. We also want to transfer our care model to other rural and urban regions with the help of the innovation fund.”
The AOK Baden-Württemberg, which extended the contract with Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH for an indefinite period at the beginning of the year, is examining this concern. Your CEO, Dr. Christopher Hermann, emphasized in the run-up to the event: “We are convinced that our experiences from family doctor-centered care harmonize perfectly with the care practice practiced in Kinzigtal. Healthy Kinzigtal has proven itself as an innovative model for care. We are therefore planning to put out a tender for a care approach based on the Kinzigtal model in other Baden-Württemberg regions.” SVLFG is also interested in rolling out the model: “The tailored offers are particularly valuable for our insured people given their working conditions. It is desirable to offer these advantages to other regions as well,” said Reinhold Knittel, CEO of the SVLFG.