Abstracts by keywords: individual contracts
The idea behind the introduction of individual contractual elements such as drug discount agreements into the statutory health insurance system is to initiate quality and performance competition between the health insurance companies. The necessary basic prerequisite for this competition to function is performance differentiation and the perception of these differences by the consumer. Only then can the insured represent a demand-side corrective for the competitive result through their health insurance choices. The answers to a current population survey by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy show that these requirements are not met and that expectations with regard to the quality of the services offered and the quality of care are hardly justified. The prospects of eliminating existing information deficits on the consumer side through targeted communication strategies must be assessed differently for the different supply areas.
01.02.2010
Since 2009, the health insurance companies that compete with each other for care have had to conclude common and uniform collective agreements for the remuneration of medical services on the basis of very narrow centralized guidelines. One way out of bringing innovation into care is to conclude individual health insurance selective contracts. At the same time, since 2009, all health insurance companies have been obliged to offer their insured persons particularly qualified family doctor-centered care on a voluntary basis. In order to prevent double financing of services, these selective contracts require an adjustment of the jointly and uniformly determined collective remuneration. The article shows which procedures are useful here in order to achieve a fair coexistence of collective system and selective contracts with the aim of innovation capability for the supply structures.