Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial evaluating an evidence-based, stepped and coordinated care service model for mental disorders (RECOVER).

Introduction: Healthcare systems around the world are looking for solutions to the growing problem of mental disorders. RECOVER is the synonym for an evidence-based, stepped and cross-sectoral coordinated care service model for mental disorders. RECOVER implements a cross-sectoral network with managed care, comprehensive psychological, somatic and social diagnostics, crisis resolution and a general structure of four severity levels, each with assigned evidence-based therapy models (eg, assertive community treatment) and therapies (eg, psychotherapy).

[Innovative care models for people with schizophrenia].

Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder. Hence, the mental health system faces enormous structural, therapeutic, and health-economic challenges. Innovative models of healthcare can facilitate making treatment more efficient and effective.

Effectiveness of integrated care including therapeutic assertive community treatment in severe schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar I disorders: Four-year follow-up of the ACCESS II study.

Unlabelled: The ACCESS-model offers integrated care including assertive community treatment to patients with psychotic disorders. ACCESS proved more effective compared to standard care (ACCESS-I study) and was successfully implemented into clinical routine (ACCESS-II study). In this article, we report the 4-year outcomes of the ACCESS-II study.

The role of the multidisciplinary health care team in the management of patients with Marfan syndrome.

Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a rare, severe, chronic, life-threatening disease with multiorgan involvement that requires optimal multidisciplinary care to normalize both prognosis and quality of life. In this article, each key team member of all the medical disciplines of a multidisciplinary health care team at the Hamburg Marfan center gives a personal account of his or her contribution in the management of patients with MFS. The authors show how, with the support of health care managers, key team members organize themselves in an organizational structure to create a common meaning, to maximize therapeutic success for patients with MFS.

Effectiveness of integrated care including therapeutic assertive community treatment in severe schizophrenia spectrum and bipolar I disorders: the 24-month follow-up ACCESS II study.

Objective: The ACCESS treatment model offers assertive community treatment embedded in an integrated care program to patients with psychoses. Compared to standard care and within a controlled study, it proved to be more effective in terms of service disengagement and illness outcomes in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders over 12 months. ACCESS was implemented into clinical routine and its effectiveness assessed over 24 months in severe schizophrenia spectrum disorders and bipolar I disorder with psychotic features (DSM-IV) in a cohort study.

[The Hamburg-model of integrated care for patients with psychosis: Part 1. Rationale, treatment concept and results of the pre-study].

Objective: The "Hamburg model" designates an integrated care model for severely ill patients with psychotic disorders financed by the health insurance system in accordance with § 140 SGB V.

Methods: It comprises comprehensive and long-term treatment within a regional network of the psychosis center of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and private psychiatrists. The treatment model consists of therapeutic assertive community treatment (ACT) provided by a highly specialized treatment team and need-adapted in- and outpatient care.

[The Hamburg-model of integrated care for patients with psychosis: Part 2. Results of the clinical course over 2- and 4-years of treatment].

Objective: Since the beginning of the integrated care model for severely ill patients with psychotic disorders ("Hamburg model") in 2007 different clinical parameters have been consecutively assessed within a naturalistic, observational, prospective study.

Methods: Clinical outcome of the 2-year and 4-year follow-ups of n = 158 patients.

Results: A significant and ongoing improvement of psychopathology, severity of illness, functional outcome, quality of life and satisfaction with care in this sample of severely ill and merely chronic patients with psychosis was shown.

Cost-effectiveness of 12-month therapeutic assertive community treatment as part of integrated care versus standard care in patients with schizophrenia treated with quetiapine immediate release (ACCESS trial).

Objective: To compare the 1-year cost-effectiveness of therapeutic assertive community treatment (ACT) with standard care in schizophrenia. ACT was specifically developed for patients with schizophrenia, delivered by psychosis experts highly trained in respective psychotherapies, and embedded into an integrated care system.

Method: Two catchment areas in Hamburg, Germany, with similar population size and health care structures were assigned to offer 12-month ACT (n = 64) or standard care (n = 56) to 120 first- and multiple-episode patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (DSM-IV), the latter with a history of relapse due to medication nonadherence.

[Analysis of costs and profits of ambulatory care of Marfan patients after initiation of a novel German legal directive (116 b SGB V)].

Background: The Marfan syndrome is a typical rare disease with multiorgan involvement and the need for specialized interdisciplinary medical care. A novel German legal directive according to section sign 116 b of the Social Statutes Book V (116 b SGB V) improves options for reimbursement and thus encourages specialized hospitals to provide ambulatory care for rare diseases such as Marfan syndrome. The authors provide the first economic analysis of section sign 116 b in a German Marfan center.

Assertive community treatment as part of integrated care versus standard care: a 12-month trial in patients with first- and multiple-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders treated with quetiapine immediate release (ACCESS trial).

Objective: The ACCESS trial examined the 12-month effectiveness of continuous therapeutic assertive community treatment (ACT) as part of integrated care compared to standard care in a catchment area comparison design in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders treated with quetiapine immediate release.

Method: Two catchment areas in Hamburg, Germany, with similar population size and health care structures were assigned to offer 12-month ACT as part of integrated care (n = 64) or standard care (n = 56) to 120 patients with first- or multiple-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders criteria); multiple-episode patients were restricted to those with a history of relapse due to medication nonadherence. The primary outcome was time to service disengagement.