scholarly journals Perception of the Progressing Digitization and Transformation of the German Health Care System Among Experts and the Public: Mixed Methods Study

10.2196/14689 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. e14689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Hansen ◽  
Maximilian Herrmann ◽  
Jan P Ehlers ◽  
Thomas Mondritzki ◽  
Kai Oliver Hensel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Delphi Method ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Health Care Market ◽  
German Health ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

Background Health care systems worldwide are struggling to keep rising costs at bay with only modest outcome improvement among many diseases. Digitization with technologies like Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning algorithms might address this. Although digital technologies have been successfully applied in clinical studies the effect on the overall health care system so far was limited. The regulatory ecosystem or data privacy might be responsible, but other reasons may also predominate. Objective We analyzed how the digitization of the German health care market is currently perceived among different stakeholders and investigated reasons for its slow adaption. Methods This was a mixed methods study split into a qualitative Part A using the conceptual approach of the Grounded Theory and a quantitative Part B using the Delphi method. For Part A we interviewed experts in the health care system and converted the results into 17 hypotheses. The Delphi method consisted of an online survey which was sent to the participants via email and was available for three months. For the assessment of the 17 hypotheses, the participants were given a six-point Likert scale. The participants were grouped into patients, physicians, and providers of services within the German health care market. Results There was a strong alignment of opinions on the hypotheses between experts (N=21) and survey participants (N=733), with 70.5% overall agreement on 12/17 hypotheses. Physicians demonstrated the lowest level of agreement with the expert panel at 88% (15/17) disagreement, with the hypotheses “H8: Digitization in the health care system will free up jobs,” and “H6: Digitization in the health care system will empower the patients,” perceived to be in profound disagreement (P=.036 and P<.001, respectively). Conclusions Despite the firm agreement among participants and experts regarding the impact of digitization on the health care system, physicians demonstrated a more negative attitude. We assume that this might be a factor contributing to the slow adoption of digitization in practice. Physicians might be struggling with changing power structures, so future measures to transform the market should involve them to a larger degree.

scholarly journals Perception of the Progressing Digitization and Transformation of the German Health Care System Among Experts and the Public: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Hansen ◽  
Maximilian Herrmann ◽  
Jan P Ehlers ◽  
Thomas Mondritzki ◽  
Kai Oliver Hensel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Delphi Method ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Health Care Market ◽  
German Health ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

BACKGROUND Health care systems worldwide are struggling to keep rising costs at bay with only modest outcome improvement among many diseases. Digitization with technologies like Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning algorithms might address this. Although digital technologies have been successfully applied in clinical studies the effect on the overall health care system so far was limited. The regulatory ecosystem or data privacy might be responsible, but other reasons may also predominate. OBJECTIVE We analyzed how the digitization of the German health care market is currently perceived among different stakeholders and investigated reasons for its slow adaption. METHODS This was a mixed methods study split into a qualitative Part A using the conceptual approach of the Grounded Theory and a quantitative Part B using the Delphi method. For Part A we interviewed experts in the health care system and converted the results into 17 hypotheses. The Delphi method consisted of an online survey which was sent to the participants via email and was available for three months. For the assessment of the 17 hypotheses, the participants were given a six-point Likert scale. The participants were grouped into patients, physicians, and providers of services within the German health care market. RESULTS There was a strong alignment of opinions on the hypotheses between experts (N=21) and survey participants (N=733), with 70.5% overall agreement on 12/17 hypotheses. Physicians demonstrated the lowest level of agreement with the expert panel at 88% (15/17) disagreement, with the hypotheses “H8: Digitization in the health care system will free up jobs,” and “H6: Digitization in the health care system will empower the patients,” perceived to be in profound disagreement (<italic>P</italic>=.036 and <italic>P</italic>&lt;.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Despite the firm agreement among participants and experts regarding the impact of digitization on the health care system, physicians demonstrated a more negative attitude. We assume that this might be a factor contributing to the slow adoption of digitization in practice. Physicians might be struggling with changing power structures, so future measures to transform the market should involve them to a larger degree.

Vertragswettbewerb im Gesundheitswesen / Double-sided Competition for the German Health Care Market

2007 ◽  
Vol 227 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Börsch-Supan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Market Power ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Health Care Market ◽  
Healthy Life ◽  
German Health Care System ◽  
German Health ◽  
Care System

SummaryGermany spends more than 11% of GDP on health care - after the US and Switzerland the third most expensive system in the world. At the same time, healthy life expectancy is just about average among the OECD countries. This indicates that the German health care system suffers from inefficiency. Other OECD countries, notably Sweden, achieve much higher healthy life expectancies at considerably lower costs.This paper addresses how the efficiency of the German health care system should be improved upon. Our central argument departs from the well-known observation that information about efficient health care procedures and technologies is asymmetric: insurances know better than consumers which doctors and hospital deliver high quality at lower prices. Hence, the role of health insurances as information mediators between consumers and providers is crucial. Thus, on the one hand, health insurances should gain more market power in the provider market, in which insurance companies pay the services of doctors and hospitals, in order to control costs. One the other hand, however, this increased market power in the provider market needs to be counter-balanced by more competition in the insurance market, in which consumers purchase insurance policies. This requires free choice of consumers among insurance contracts with different prices.

scholarly journals Hospitalization issues in the public health care system: Evidence from Vietnam

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Van Phuong
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Health Care Market ◽  
Public Health Care System ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

This paper aim to build a theory model to generalize the health care market and find the solution for the hospitalization issues in the public health care system in Vietnam. Specifically, the results indicate that increased quality improvement and reduced waiting time for patients within a hospital are able to solve if two-price tariffs are allowed to implement in the state hospitals. Additionally, by exploring the two-wave Vietnamese Household Living Standard Survey conducted in 2004 and 2006, this paper also investigates the impact of the new health insurance policy on a number of hospital visits.

scholarly journals The Impact of Increased Hydrocodone Regulation on Opioid Prescribing in an Urban Safety-Net Health Care System

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Northrup ◽  
Kelley Carroll ◽  
Robert Suchting ◽  
Yolanda R. Villarreal ◽  
Mohammad Zare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Opioid Prescribing ◽  
Urban Safety ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

scholarly journals The impact of the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform law on spine surgery patient payer-mix status and age

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 694-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas W. Villelli ◽  
Hong Yan ◽  
Jian Zou ◽  
Nicholas M. Barbaro
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
New York ◽  
Health Care Reform ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Spine Surgery ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
New York State ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

OBJECTIVESeveral similarities exist between the Massachusetts health care reform law of 2006 and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The authors’ prior neurosurgical research showed a decrease in uninsured surgeries without a significant change in surgical volume after the Massachusetts reform. An analysis of the payer-mix status and the age of spine surgery patients, before and after the policy, should provide insight into the future impact of the ACA on spine surgery in the US.METHODSUsing the Massachusetts State Inpatient Database and spine ICD-9-CM procedure codes, the authors obtained demographic information on patients undergoing spine surgery between 2001 and 2012. Payer-mix status was assigned as Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, uninsured, or other, which included government-funded programs and workers’ compensation. A comparison of the payer-mix status and patient age, both before and after the policy, was performed. The New York State data were used as a control.RESULTSThe authors analyzed 81,821 spine surgeries performed in Massachusetts and 248,757 in New York. After 2008, there was a decrease in uninsured and private insurance spine surgeries, with a subsequent increase in the Medicare and “other” categories for Massachusetts. Medicaid case numbers did not change. This correlated to an increase in surgeries performed in the age group of patients 65–84 years old, with a decrease in surgeries for those 18–44 years old. New York showed an increase in all insurance categories and all adult age groups.CONCLUSIONSAfter the Massachusetts reform, spine surgery decreased in private insurance and uninsured categories, with the majority of these surgeries transitioning to Medicare. Moreover, individuals who were younger than 65 years did not show an increase in spine surgeries, despite having greater access to health insurance. In a health care system that requires insurance, the decrease in private insurance is primarily due to an increasing elderly population. The Massachusetts model continues to show that this type of policy is not causing extreme shifts in the payer mix, and suggests that spine surgery will continue to thrive in the current US health care system.

The Impact of Age on Colorectal Cancer Incidence, Treatment, and Outcomes in an Equal-Access Health Care System

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott R. Steele ◽  
Grace E. Park ◽  
Eric K. Johnson ◽  
Matthew J. Martin ◽  
Alexander Stojadinovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Cancer Incidence ◽  
Equal Access ◽  
Colorectal Cancer Incidence ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document