Two supply offers successfully tested

04.04.2022 11:40

In two completed projects from the “New Forms of Care” funding area, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) recommended that successfully tested approaches be transferred into care for patients. To ensure that this is successful, the detailed project results are now being forwarded specifically to organizations and institutions in the healthcare sector.

TRANSLATE-NAMSE: better care for people with rare diseases

There are over 8,000 rare diseases, with several million people affected in Germany alone. The path to the correct diagnosis is often long - on average it takes four and a half years for children and eight and a half years for adults. Unfortunately, adequate care is not yet a given. The “National Action Alliance for Rare Diseases” (NAMSE), founded in 2010, wants to improve care for those affected. Some of the measures designed by NAMSE were tested in the TRANSLATE-NAMSE project funded by the Innovation Committee.

In order to speed up the diagnosis of a rare disease, nine university centers for rare diseases and four university human genetic institutes were networked in the project. Structured patient pathways were also established for people who suspected or still had an unclear diagnosis of a rare disease. In order to better structure the transition from adolescent to adult medicine, the project introduced, among other things, needs-based, multi-professional care and consultation services. The nationwide network was used by 6,000 patients over the three-year project period.

The evaluation of the project has shown that the new offer significantly improved the efficiency of care for many patients suspected of having a rare disease. A confirmed diagnosis was made for a third of those treated in the project. A quarter of the patients were even diagnosed with a rare disease. The diagnosis was made on average within six months, so that appropriate therapy could then be initiated immediately. However, non-effective diagnostics and therapeutic attempts were avoided.

Based on the project results, selective contracts have already been concluded across various types of health insurance funds nationwide. There is an option for additional health insurance companies to join, making broad coverage possible. However, the Innovation Committee also asks a total of eleven healthcare institutions, including the Federal Joint Committee, to examine the extent to which the tried and tested approaches can be taken into account in their area of responsibility: for example, to further develop contracts for the coordinated diagnosis and treatment of a rare disease in order to adequately provide inpatient services and to expand outpatient specialist care for rare diseases.

Decision and result report NAMSE TRANSLATE

IGiB-StimMT: Structural migration in the region around Templin

The IGiB-StimMT project aimed to adapt the regional supply structures and processes in the Templin region to the changing conditions of demographic change in a needs-oriented and region-specific manner.

Even though several approaches and care modules had to be adapted or even discarded during the course of the project, four of the five sub-projects were ultimately successfully integrated into the existing care structure and improved the existing medical offerings. The focus was on restructuring the Sana Hospital Templin into an outpatient and inpatient center with a wide range of care offerings that are more closely aligned to the regional needs of patients. The hospital has, among other things, an on-call medical practice, a central emergency room (Decision Unit) for patients with unclear diagnoses, suspected diagnoses or care needs that go beyond outpatient options, as well as a coordination and advice center. In addition, the project implemented cross-sector treatment pathways for heart failure, back pain and obesity as well as structured urinary incontinence care.

The project results, which explicitly address the difficulties in reforming complex care structures, will be passed on to the actors in self-administration in the healthcare system - the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, the German Hospital Association, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. You are asked to examine to what extent approaches from the new form of care can be used to further develop needs-based care in rural and/or structurally weak regions and how this can be done within a uniform nationwide framework. In addition, the findings obtained in the project will be forwarded to the health and social ministries of the federal states and the Federal Association of Municipal Associations for information purposes.

In addition, the Federal Ministry of Health is asked to examine whether legal adjustments can be proposed as part of the legislative process to make it easier to implement needs-based, home-based and cross-sector care approaches in rural and/or structurally weak regions. The G‑BA guidelines are not the right way to bring the positive findings into care.

Decision and result report IGiB-StimMT