Innovative care concept for insured people with depression

27.11.2018 12:19

Depression is considered the most common form of mental illness. The WHO estimates that around 4.1 million are affected in Germany - that's 5.2 percent of the population. In order to achieve better treatment success for its insured persons diagnosed with depression, Inter Krankenversicherung AG now offers a comprehensive, individual care program. The cooperation partners Thieme TeleCare and Stadapharm support this. The program includes close support of the participants by psychologically trained specialists from Thieme TeleCare as well as a pharmacogenetic test from Stadapharm for optimally tailored drug therapy to the individual.

Together with Stadapharm and Thieme TeleCare, Inter would like to achieve a noticeable improvement for its insured persons who suffer from depression. Stadapharm provides DNA tests that can record relevant information about a patient's metabolic type and thus lay the foundation for individualized psychotropic drug therapy. Thieme TeleCare has been working in patient communication for almost 20 years and supports mentally ill people with targeted coaching from psychological specialists.

Participation in the Inter pension program is uncomplicated for those insured. At the beginning you will receive all the necessary documents including a test kit for pharmacogenetic analysis from your treating doctor. This takes blood from the patient and sends it to the genetic laboratory to carry out the test. The test result with the therapy recommendation goes directly and exclusively to the doctor. It shows him the individual metabolism of all common antidepressants in the patient. From this he can determine which drug ingredients and in what dosage are best suited to treating depression according to the personal “metabolic pattern”. Throughout the entire program, the insured person is supported and accompanied by a psychological specialist from Thieme TeleCare. As part of telephone coaching, the person affected is informed in detail about the test and the chances of individualized therapy and is motivated to follow the therapy recommendation exactly.

The aim of coaching is to strengthen the patient's self-management skills and to contribute directly to their psychological well-being. In addition to the mutually agreed, regular telephone appointments, those affected have the opportunity to discuss questions and problems with the Thieme TeleCare medical hotline at any time if the need arises.