New approaches to care for the benefit of the patient
05.02.2013 10:14
A stronger focus on the needs and expectations of patients, based on valid data, is a key challenge that healthcare providers, and not least the pharmaceutical industry, must address. Only in this way can improved care and the maximization of patient benefit, as required by law, be achieved. This was the conclusion reached by participants at this year's business forum hosted by the health information service provider INSIGHT Health in Königstein.
Henning Fahrenkamp, CEO of the German Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry (BPI), emphasized in his presentation that the benefit assessment of new drugs introduced by the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG) has led to initial gaps in drug supply in Germany. He attributed this to structural flaws, such as a lack of expert oversight by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), and inadequate reimbursement for incremental innovations. Fahrenkamp called for the creation of more favorable conditions for benefit assessment in order to reduce the risk of incorrect decisions in the future.
Patient-centered healthcare and values-based competition are the "paradigm of the future," according to Ralph Lägel, Director of Key Account Business Integrated Health Europe at Pfizer Pharma GmbH. This presents the industry with the opportunity to help shape the framework for treatment as a partner in integrated care contracts under Section 140 of the German Social Code, Book V (SGB V), in order to optimize its benefits. A prerequisite for this is robust and transparent data on all processes relevant to therapy. "Pharmaceutical companies should no longer focus solely on innovation, but also contribute their expertise to the entire therapy management process," said Lägel. Integrated healthcare solutions between the pharmaceutical industry, health insurance companies, and healthcare providers could, for example, save around 10 to 20 percent of costs in the treatment of back pain patients alone – while simultaneously increasing quality.
„To provide better care for patients, we need to understand how treatments affect them and what value they place on this influence,“ emphasized Professor Axel Mühlbacher from the Institute of Health Economics and Medical Management at Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences. Only through a systematic measurement of a patient's individual needs and preferences is it possible to identify the concrete patient benefit of individual treatment options, as required by law.
It is currently unclear what role the pharmaceutical industry should play in integrated care management. According to a survey of 20 health insurance funds by Sanofi-Aventis, the spectrum ranges from providing discounts to advising insurers, doctors, and patients, all the way to being a creative innovator in healthcare.