Original article
Every year around 5 million people die from injuries worldwide. This number accounts for 9% of all deaths [1]. It has been proven that men and young people die from injuries more often than women and the elderly, respectively [1–3]. In addition, injuries cause one million permanent disabilities in the European Union every year, and thus have a significant impact on public health in this region of the world [4]. The prevalence of injuries in Germany has only been examined by a few authors in recent years. In 2010, there were an estimated 8 million injuries and more than 20,000 injury deaths in this country [5,6]. In the same year, Rickels et al. found that the incidence of traumatic brain injuries in two separate regions of Germany was 332 per 100,000 people [7]. A cross-sectional telephone survey published in 2013 also estimated that more than 10% of the participants had been diagnosed with accidental injuries requiring medical treatment in the 12 months prior to the survey [8]. More recently, in 2016, Rommel and colleagues showed that at least 2.8% out of more than 14,000 adults were affected by an accident at work [9].
04.06.2018
On February 19, 2018, the “National Health Literacy Action Plan” (NAP) was presented to the public (Schaeffer et al., 2018). Following the example of other countries, it lists the most important challenges for improving the population's health education and promoting health communication among professional staff in educational and care facilities (see Figures 1 and 2) and then makes targeted recommendations. The project was financially supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation, the AOK Federal Association, Bielefeld University and the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. It is headed by Prof. Dr. Doris Schaeffer, Prof. Dr. Klaus Hurrelmann, Prof. Dr. Ullrich Bauer and Dr. Kai Kolpatzik. The following article addresses the first of the NAP's 15 recommendations, which focuses on strengthening health literacy in the education sector.
04.06.2018
The diagnosis of dementia is an enormous emotional and financial burden for many of those affected and their relatives. At the same time, it represents a major cultural and political challenge for society. There are no treatment options. It is therefore important for everyone involved to learn to live with dementia and to find ways that enable them to live a good life despite the illness (cf. Klie 2017). Dementia is the most common “mental” illness in older people and one of the most common reasons for the need for care. The most common forms of dementia are Alzheimer's disease (ICD codes F00. & G30.) and vascular dementia (ICD F01.), which is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the brain. There are also secondary forms of dementia (F02.), e.g. B. in connection with Parkinson's or HIV, and unspecified forms of dementia (F04.). These five ICD codes were used in the analysis to identify patients with dementia and a level of care.
04.06.2018
The first of two special reports prepared by the voluntary Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Insurance Office (BVA) as the basis for a possible further development of the morbidity-oriented risk structure adjustment (M-RSA) was presented at a press conference at the BVA in Bonn.
06.12.2017
“The innovation fund is an investment that will also be really worthwhile from an economic point of view,” explained the Greifswald healthcare researcher Prof. Dr. med. Wolfgang Hoffmann – Congress President of the DKVF 2017 – in the cover interview in “Monitor Healthcare Research” (04/17). But when asked if he wanted to make a bet on it, he added: “I would do so if the pot was removed from the direct access of the cash registers and the G-BA.” A statement that Dr. Andreas Meusch, director of the TK Scientific Institute for Benefits and Efficiency in the Health Care System (WINEG), and representative of the board of directors for strategic health care issues at the Techniker Krankenkasse, does not want to leave it unchallenged. “Monitor Health Services Research” asked both of them to justify their positions.
06.12.2017
The Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Regensburg was founded in 2008 with the appointment of Prof. Dr. Michael Leitzmann as chair and director. The institute, still headed by Leitzmann today, includes three professorships: the Chair of Medical Sociology—shared by Prof. Julika Loss and Prof. Christian Apfelbacher, which will be presented here—as well as the Chair of Genetic Epidemiology, held by Prof. Iris Heid, and the Chair of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, held by Leitzmann.
06.12.2017
The basic idea behind AMNOG in 2010 was to base pricing on the benefit of a drug. The legislator expected, but did not necessarily imply, that a price negotiated between statutory health insurance and a pharmaceutical company based on this benefit assessment would be economical [1]. However, since a decision and subsequent ruling by the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Social Court [2] regarding a decision by the arbitration board, the discussion about the cost-effectiveness of reimbursement amounts and how they are determined has intensified. It is clear that there is no consensus among the stakeholders at any level as to when a reimbursement amount can be considered economical. The most concerning aspect of this is that, as a result, doctors and patients are uncertain about when a drug with a reimbursement amount can be used. Ensuring the supply of innovative therapies to patients was, however, one of the main motivations for AMNOG.
06.12.2017
The restructuring of acute and emergency care will be one of the central topics in health policy in the coming legislative period, a thesis supported by three facts. On the one hand, various approaches and existing solutions have been presented and discussed for a long time. Secondly, the Innovation Fund promotes the examination of this question in the area of health services research. And thirdly, the Advisory Council for the Assessment of Developments in the Healthcare System will present its expertise on the “Future of Emergency Care in Germany”, which was already discussed in a “workshop discussion”. This means that the demands for quick and sustainable solutions are becoming louder. In addition, the federal and state governments - but also the current media debate on the topic - are massively increasing the pressure to act in the coming legislative period. This marked the beginning of the political course for the realignment of acute and emergency care, but also the real ones, as the “IGiB on-call practice”, a model for outpatient acute and emergency care as a synthesis of medical on-call service and rescue center, shows.
06.12.2017
“Now the focus is finally on the patient.”1 (Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe, 2015). The patient has become socially acceptable: whether the federal government2, health insurance companies or the German Medical Association3 - all players in the health system assert that the microcosm of the care system should revolve around them in the future. The question remains whether a revolution is actually being sought. Because marginal sham or mini-reforms wouldn't do it. For too long, the German healthcare system has only served one purpose instead of the ominous “He who must not be named”: self-preservation. Putting the patient at the center would mean a complete overhaul and rearrangement of the existing system. Especially in the heads.
06.12.2017
„Die Nutzung der Chancen der Digitalisierung im Gesundheitssystem.“ Lediglich diese acht Wörter fanden sich Ende August im Sondierungsstatus des Arbeitskreises Arbeit, Rente, Gesundheit, Pflege, Soziales im Vorfeld der aktuellen Regierungsbildung zur Digitalisierung im Gesundheitswesen. Etwas wenig, wenn man die traurige Geschichte der Telematik-Infrastruktur in Deutschland bedenkt und das aktuelle 20-seitige Positionspapier der AOK Nordost betrachtet, das von der kommenden Regierungskoalition – wie immer diese aussehen mag – eine klare Strategie zum Ausbau der Digitalisierung im Gesundheitswesen fordert. Dazu gehört nach Meinung von AOK-Nordost-Vorstand Frank Michalak neben vielen anderen wichtigen Punkten nicht nur eine stärkere Souveränität der Patienten, sondern auch eine einheitliche Kommunikationsgrundlage für digitale Lösungen – sprich: eine elektronische Gesundheitsakte.