Abstracts by key term: health care
Ensuring the continuous availability of medicines is crucial in healthcare, and supply shortages are a growing problem [1]. These are caused by global supply chain disruptions, production problems, and increasing demand [2], which can lead to significant supply problems and jeopardize patient care. Established inventory management and forecasting methods often reach their limits. According to the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), a supply shortage is defined as "an interruption of delivery at the usual level lasting longer than two weeks or a significantly increased demand that cannot be adequately met" [1]. For patients, this becomes relevant when the prescribed medicine or an alternative medicine is not in stock and cannot be ordered from wholesalers in a timely manner. This would constitute a supply shortage. Legislation already addresses this problem in the Pharmacy Operations Ordinance, which stipulates: „[E]very pharmacy must keep in stock medicinal products and pharmacy-only medical devices sufficient to meet at least the average demand for one week“ (§ 15 ApBetrO). Furthermore, § 52b (1) of the German Medicines Act (AMG) states: „Pharmaceutical companies and operators of pharmaceutical wholesalers [...] shall ensure an adequate and continuous supply of the medicinal product so that the needs of patients within the scope of this Act are met.“
05.10.2025
The health care situation – especially for younger men – prior to the onset of typical prostate problems has been little studied. The aim of this study was to assess the status quo of men's health in Germany. It also aimed to identify obstacles and potential for improvement in the implementation of preventive and health-promoting services in order to derive concrete recommendations for action.
03.12.2024
In recent weeks and months there has been an increase in public perception and in the media of reports and images of people trying to reach European soil via the Mediterranean. They risk their lives in overcrowded boats hoping for a better life in Europe. In the TV and newspaper reports, capsized boats and drowned people are often reported. If illegal immigrants do reach European territory, they usually end up in overcrowded refugee camps with the hope of escaping to Germany or another European country. The number of asylum seekers in Germany is currently higher than ever before, and new records are being broken every month. For 2015, almost 330,000 initial asylum applications were recorded (as of October 2015), which corresponds to an increase of 1,44% compared to 2014. The numbers appear even more serious compared to previous years: in 2007 there were only 19,000 initial asylum applications in Germany and 41,000 in 2010 (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees 2015a). The overall protection rate, i.e. all positive decisions according to Art. 16a Paragraph 1 GG, according to Section 3 Paragraph 1 AsylVfG, according to Section 4 Paragraph 1 AsylVfG and according to Section 60 Paragraphs 5 and 7 Residence Act, is 39.1% in 2015 is thus higher than in the previous year (31.5%) (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees 2015a). The remaining asylum seekers have few options to be able to live permanently in Germany. One possibility: you decide to live illegally under the residency law.
31.03.2015
Doctor networks have a number of business advantages over individual practices. However, the current state of medical networks is, on average, still far from professional. The number of doctor networks that can also implement their advantages is increasing. As the importance of doctor networks increases, the risk of monopoly care also increases. Adequate answers must first be found for this risk. Management skills are and will remain essential in the development and management of doctor networks.
23.09.2012
The article understands the healthcare system in general and the statutory health insurance system in particular as a complex adaptive system. After an explanation of the essential properties of complex adaptive systems (dynamics, feedback, self-organization, nonlinearity and path dependence), empirical examples from the field of statutory health insurance explain this understanding