Four private health insurers will soon be working together to speed up processes, further improve services, keep costs stable or reduce them, and exchange information in order to further develop the quality of care in the outpatient, inpatient and rehabilitation sectors in the long term.
The private health insurers of AXA, Debeka, Huk-Coburg and Versicherungskammer Bayern are part of the quartet, the latter with the providers Bayrische Beamtenkasse and Union Krankenversicherung on board. The new cooperation under the name „Innovative Care Management“ is intended to offer many advantages to four million fully insured persons through the pooling of expertise and experience.
Talks are already taking place with drug manufacturers such as Sandoz (Hexal and A1-Pharma), with details unknown, but savings on drug prices will mean that premiums can be kept stable, as already mentioned. The indications of the drugs and their selection are based on the „relevant care guidelines of the professional societies“. The physician continues to be free in his decisions for a certain therapy, the cooperating insurance companies emphasize. Drugs from non-cooperating pharmaceutical companies also continue to be reimbursable.
In addition, contract negotiations are pending with other pharmaceutical manufacturers and cooperating hospitals, including the Usedom Medigreif Inselklinik, located in the far north of Germany. Other hospitals are also open as possible cooperation partners, so that health care can be improved in the long term. These include, among others, rehabilitation facilities and digitally working partners who do not shy away from cooperation.
Interdisciplinary collaboration between many service providers can reduce waiting times when therapies need to begin urgently. In addition, improved communication among all parties eliminates administrative hurdles, such as direct billing for services.
Source: www.pharmazeutische.zeitung.de