Der Urologe. Ausg. A
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Der Urologe. Ausg. A · Dec 2011
[Health care system facing change: physician networks: driving force for integrated care?].
The German health care system is faced with enormous challenges: population ageing, more chronic diseases and multimorbidity. The fragmentation of medical care into disconnected parts-ambulant and clinical services, pharmaceutical provision, nursing care etc.-is inefficient and inhibits coordinated courses of treatment. Instead of this new types of organizational structures and processes are needed. ⋯ Furthermore, those interdisciplinary networks are crucial prerequisites for integrated health care. But there is still a lot of work to do. The successful integration of the components of health care into functioning process chains depends on political, economic and sociocultural parameters.
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"Health is not everything, but without health, everything is nothing" (cited from Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher, 1788-1860). The relationship between medicine and economics could not have been put more precisely. ⋯ How to approach this challenge? From medicine to economics or from economics to medicine? The present article intends to raise awareness to regard the "economization of medicine" not just as a threat, but also as an opportunity. Needs for economic action are pointed out, and insights as well as future perspectives for the explanatory contribution for health economics are given.