[Findings on the effectiveness of rehabilitation].

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Pension Insurance scheme established a funding programme for research in rehabilitation. This review presents the findings of 38 available evaluation studies analyzing the effects of medical rehabilitation in Germany in different indications. With a total of 10 studies, the effectiveness of rehabilitation in chronic low back pain was evaluated most frequently.

[New forms of remuneration and care delivery: their impact on rehabilitation].

Current health policy reform efforts in Germany include introduction of a DRG (Diagnosis Related Group) based funding system in the hospital sector as well as integrated delivery of health care and disease management programs, developments that will directly affect the medical rehabilitation sector. Decreasing lengths of hospital stay induced by the DRG system will inter alia entail a shifting of cases and costs to subsequent sectors. Moreover, hospitals might not least seek compensation for shorter hospital stays by extending their scope to include rehabilitation and long-term care services.

[Evaluation of outpatient rehabilitation: goals, conceptual framework and study design of a health and pension insurance joint research project].

In Germany the statutory health and pension insurance schemes are the main providers of medical rehabilitation, the majority of rehabilitation measures being given in an inpatient setting. Over the last few years, the health and pension insurance schemes have strengthened the extension of outpatient rehabilitation, and have funded a comprehensive evaluation study in this context. In this evaluation study outpatient rehabilitation in centres with different conceptual backgrounds is compared with inpatient rehabilitation in rehab clinics, indications considered being cardiology and orthopaedics.

[Health economics analysis of prospective payment systems in medical rehabilitation].

The forthcoming introduction of the DRG-system as a new hospital funding system in Germany reinforced the discussion about a reform of the already existing funding system in medical rehabilitation. Experience and concepts from acute medicine, however, cannot be transferred directly to rehabilitation. The development of a patient classification system is a presupposition for prospective payment systems.