[Innovative outpatient models]. / Innovative ambulante Modelle.

Innovative, multimodal, cross-professional and cross-sectoral approaches to outpatient care have been funded in Germany since 2004 when the integrated care (IV) according to § 140 ff Social Security Code V (SGB V) and selective contracts according to § 73 SGB V were introduced. As a result, almost 7000 IV contracts were established providing psychiatric care; however, most of them were short-term contracts and only 1-2% of the total number of patients were treated by means of IV contracts. Great attention has been paid to the multiprofessional care of patients in all service models. Here we present two service models that were permanently established: the network of the Psychiatry Initiative Berlin Brandenburg (PIBB), certified according to § 87b SGB V, and the project Neuropsychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Care (NPPV) North Rhine funded by the Innovation Fund. The care projects described show new opportunities by exploiting previously unused networking resources at various levels of care and by coordinating the necessary treatment steps. Furthermore, a better coordination of patients enables, among other things, the organization of group therapy. This form of treatment in particular offers the possibility of treating more patients by applying different treatment intensities and contents. Moreover, it intensifies the guideline-based treatment itself through an interactive, therapeutically desired exchange. In addition, the formation of medical networks, which are entitled to relevant financial support according to their statutory certification, is a special opportunity to use complex outpatient psychiatric treatment and thus to improve care.

[Cost evaluation of a model for integrated care of seriously mentally ill patients]. / Kostenevaluation eines Modells der Integrierten Versorgung für schwer psychisch Kranke.

BACKGROUND: The model for integrated care (IC) of those seriously mentally ill patients insured with the DAK-Gesundheit health insurance and various Betriebskrankenkassen (members of the VAG Mitte) from the regions Berlin, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and Bremen allows a complex treatment in the outpatient setting which consists of psychiatrists, general practitioners and clinicians, psychiatric nursing, sociotherapy (only in Berlin), internal medicine quality circles, orientation on treatment guidelines and conceptual consensus with the relevant care clinics. The aim of the evaluation is to illustrate the health economic effects of IC. METHODS: In the period from 2006 to 2010 insured members of the DAK-Gesundheit and other involved health insurance companies with a serious mental illness, a significant impairment of social functioning and the need to be treated to avoid or substitute an in-hospital stay were included in the integrated care. The cost perspective was that of the statutory health insurance companies. For the health economic evaluation, the utilisation of continuous IC over 18 months was compared to the last 18 months prior to the inclusion in IC. The clinical findings were gathered quarterly during the IC using CGI (Clinical Global Impressions) and GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning Scale). RESULTS: A total of 1 364 patients receiving IC in 66 doctor's practices were documented (of those, 286 had diagnoses of ICD-10 F2, 724 ICD-10 F32-F39). The median age was 48.8 years, 69% were female. 24% had their own source of income, 40% were on the pension, and the rest of the patients were receiving transfer benefits in some form. In 54% of the cases IC was used to avoid an in-hospital stay, in 46% of the cases to substitute an in-hospital stay. The degree of the CGI was 5.5 on average at the time of inclusion and the GAF score was 36.5 on average. The 226 patients with continuous documentation over 18 months were included in the health economic analysis. The number of days spent in hospital was lower during the IC period as compared to the 18 months prior to IV (11.8 vs. 28.6 days, p<0.001), the inpatient costs were lower (5 929 ± 13 837 Euro vs. 2 458 ± 6 940 Euro, p<0.001), the total was not significantly changed (7 777 ± 14 263 Euro vs. 7 321 ± 7 910 Euro, p=0.65). The substantial reduction of inpatient costs was compensated by the additional costs for medication and the costs of the complex outpatient care. Results were comparable for the 2 subgroups of schizophrenic/schizoaffective (n=66, 40.9 vs. 17.9 days, p=0.03; inpatient cost 9 009 ± 15 677 Euro vs. 3 650 ± 8 486 Euro, p=0.02; total expenditures 11 789 ± 15 975 Euro vs. 9 623 ± 9 262 Euro, p=0.33) and unipolar depressive patients (n=90, 29.8 vs. 9.8 days, p=0.006; inpatient cost 5 664 ± 14 921 Euro vs. 1 967 ± 5 276 Euro, p=0.02; total expenditures 7 146 ± 15 164 Euro vs. 6 234 ± 6 292 Euro, p=0.57). CONCLUSION: The IC was able to considerably reduce the utilisation of inpatient treatment through offering a complex range of services in the outpatient setting and allowed for a weight-shift in a low-threshold comprehensive care structure without an increase in costs from the statutory health insurance companies' perspective. For a detailed description of clinical effects further studies are required.

[When guidelines are confronted with health care reality: purpose of guidelines from the perspective of a psychiatrist]. / Wenn Leitlinien auf Versorgungswirklichkeit treffen: Sinn von Leitlinien aus Sicht niedergelassener Psychiater.

The National Health Care guidelines on unipolar depression play a leading role regarding the multitude of players providing general care services, regarding scientific research and, last but not least, regarding common etiologic and therapeutic concepts as perceived by affected people and their relatives. In terms of health care, depression as a universal disorder comprises qualitative and quantitative aspects. For practicing neurologists/psychiatrists the guidelines provides many suggestions for different forms of treatment of the many kinds of depressive patients. When using a comprehensive approach, the criteria of evidence-based medicine are particularly important for practicing psychiatrists regarding the knowledge based on medical experience and patients preferences. It is important to point out that the hitherto fervently debated treatment dichotomy of psychotherapy versus pharmacotherapy is beginning to diminish. This is also reflected by the holistic perception of diseases and treatment approaches prevailing among established psychiatrists and the apparent development of health care quality towards individualized medicine.