An analysis of results from Techniker Krankenkasse’s (TK) billing data found that psychotherapy video consultations have multiplied eightfold since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic.
In the first quarter of 2020, 29,000 therapy consultations were billed to TK, while 228,000 were required in the second half of the year. Data for the second half of the year are not yet available for evaluation.
The chairman of the board of the statutory health insurance fund, Jens Baas, criticizes the time delay in the evaluation of these data of eight to nine months and knows no reasons for the delayed data transfer. He is also at a loss to explain why the billing of doctors/psychotherapists and the evaluation from the practice computer to the fund’s computer center takes so long, even though everything is done fully electronically.
During the pandemic, the federal government, under strict data protection regulations, also had to quickly access the outpatient data of the health insurance companies regarding the mailing of masks for chronically ill people. This was done quickly and without any problems. For pregnant women, for example, the time delay, according to Baas, would be an impossibility.
The legislator is therefore called upon to initiate a change in the specifications so that daily updated transmissions of data relevant to the care of individual patient groups such as pregnant women are possible in the near future.
Baas thinks it’s good that otherwise, patients in psychotherapy can benefit from digital technology quickly, easily, and without risk of contagion. However, professional associations in this category believe that personal contact between patients and psychotherapists is better.
Source: Aerzteblatt