Health kiosk: Over 1,000 patients in the first six months
08.03.2018 15:33
Germany's first “health kiosk” has been revolutionizing medical care for almost six months. The model project, supported by the Innovation Fund, aims to provide disadvantaged people in Hamburg's problem districts of Billstedt and Horn with low-threshold access to health promotion and prevention. The kiosk also relieves the burden on doctors who do not have enough time for this because their practices are overcrowded.
Patients receive low-threshold advice at the health kiosk before or after their doctor's appointment. They learn to understand their illnesses and treatment instructions, medical reports are explained, questions about losing weight, quitting smoking, care and other topics are answered. Around 1,000 consultations in eight languages have been held since it started in October 2017. The initial consultation lasts around 45 to 60 minutes, the follow-up consultations last half an hour.
Dr. Dirk Heinrich, chairman of the Hamburg regional group of the Association of Resident Doctors in Germany (NAV-Virchow-Bund), would like this model project to be so successful that it will be expanded to other cities. “So far we are the first in Germany with such an idea. We have set up care programs for diabetes, back, heart and care and started an information campaign,” explained Dirk Heinrich, chairman of the Hamburg regional group at the NAV-Virchow-Bund.”
The health kiosk is just one measure of a large-scale project: health care in Billstedt and Horn is to be reorganized and the medical and social sectors are to be networked. “Health for Billstedt/Horn” is supported by the Innovation Fund with 6.3 million euros. The project was launched in 2016 by the NAV-Virchow-Bund together with OptiMedis AG, the medical network Billstedt-Horn e. V. and the SKH District Clinic Hamburg GmbH were founded. 18 practices, 42 doctors, eight care providers and three health insurance companies are now working with the kiosk; over 100 health offers are available. 15 medical training events were held and three health programs were developed for high-risk patients.
An above-average number of social welfare recipients, people with low school qualifications, migrants and single parents live in Billstedt and Horn. According to studies, people from these population groups develop diabetes, asthma, heart or lung disease around ten years earlier. Doctors' practices can hardly meet patients' increased treatment needs; there are simply not enough doctors.
Dr. Dirk Heinrich has been practicing as an ENT doctor in Hamburg-Horn since 1996 and explains: “Practices in such locations that have to manage without private patients are often not economically viable. At the end of the quarter, the health insurance fund's budget has been used up and I treat my patients without receiving a corresponding fee from the health insurance company. However, the costs for employees, rent and energy continue. In the worst case scenario, I may even face reductions in fees and recourse if I prescribe too much.”
He is annoyed that politicians' austerity measures have made the situation worse, especially in problem areas like Billstedt and Horn: “Budgeting in the healthcare system is the main reason why people have the feeling that there is a two-tier medicine system. Nonsensical demands such as compulsory more consultation hours do nothing to change the fact that we have too few doctors and too little money for the treatment of people in Billstedt and Horn.”