Medical App Treatment of Non-Specific Low Back Pain in the 12-month Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial Rise-uP: Where Clinical Superiority Meets Cost Savings.

Purpose: Non-specific low back pain (NLBP) exerts a profound impact on global health and economics. In the era of Web 3.0, digital therapeutics offer the potential to improve NLBP management.

Assessing the accessibility and quality of mobile health applications for the treatment of obesity in the German healthcare market.

Introduction: Overweight and obesity are among the most prevalent health problems worldwide leading to various diseases and having a significant impact on the healthcare system. In Germany, the prevalence of obesity among adults is 19%. Mobile health applications offer a new approach to treatment and prevention and have been proven effective in previous studies.

Design and implementation of ParkinsonAKTIV: an interventional study to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel online platform to guide quickcard-based treatment decisions.

Introduction: Patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) require an all-encompassing and individualized care including pharmacological as well as non-pharmacological treatment approaches, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech and swallowing therapy. ParkinsonAKTIV is an innovative, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive approach to guide this non-pharmacological PD treatment in northwestern Germany. Its online communication platform called JamesAKTIV has been developed to enhance and standardize PD healthcare professionals' communication.

Acceptance of digital health applications in non-pharmacological therapies in German statutory healthcare system: Results of an online survey.

Objective: On the way to a modern digital healthcare system, Germany becomes a driver of innovation by integrating digital health applications (Digitale Gesundheitsanwendungen (DiGAs)) into standard care. Although all insured persons of the statutory health insurance are eligible for a registered DiGA, utilisation has been rather restrained so far. There seems to be a lack of acceptance among healthcare providers.

Strengthening Communication and Collaboration in the Fragmented German Healthcare System: A Mixed-Method Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Network for Parkinson's Disease.

Background: To improve Parkinson's disease (PD) care, interdisciplinary and patient-centered treatment is mandatory. A key problem in many healthcare systems is the limited and unspecific communication among different healthcare professionals. Optimal collaboration between various professionals involved is indispensable.

App-based maintenance treatment for alcohol use disorder after acute inpatient treatment: Study protocol for a multicentre randomized controlled trial.

Background: Alcohol use disorder, a prevalent and disabling mental health problem, is often characterized by a chronic disease course. While effective inpatient and aftercare treatment options exist, the transferal of treatment success into everyday life is challenging and many patients remain without further assistance. App-based interventions with human guidance have great potential to support individuals after inpatient treatment, yet evidence on their efficacy remains scarce.

Lower Emotion Regulation Competencies Mediate the Association between Impulsivity and Craving during Alcohol Withdrawal Treatment.

There is evidence that craving mediates the relationship between Impulsive Personality Traits (IPTs) and relapse during the treatment of an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). To provide tailored interventions, a deeper understanding of the relation between IPTs and craving, namely mediating processes, is important. Based on previous literature, we proposed that lower emotion regulation competencies mediate the relation between attentional as well as non-planning IPTs and craving.

Association of impulsivity with quality of life and well-being after alcohol withdrawal treatment.

Objectives: Impulsivity is related to a higher risk of relapse in alcohol use disorders. However, besides drinking behavior, other recovery outcomes like physical and mental health-related quality of life are at least as important. The present study aimed to fill a research gap regarding the association of different impulsivity facets with health-related quality of life and well-being in alcohol use disorder.

The economic burden of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a systematic review.

Objectives: This systematic review aimed to comprehensively collect and summarise the current body of knowledge regarding the cost-of-illness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, to identify cost-driving factors of the disease and to consider the development of costs over the course of disease. Further, the review sought to assess the methodological quality of the selected studies.

Methods: A systematic review was performed using the databases MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library and PsycINFO.

Parkinson Network Eastern Saxony (PANOS): Reaching Consensus for a Regional Intersectoral Integrated Care Concept for Patients with Parkinson's Disease in the Region of Eastern Saxony, Germany.

As integrated care is recognized as crucial to meet the challenges of chronic conditions such as Parkinson's disease (PD), integrated care networks have emerged internationally and throughout Germany. One of these networks is the Parkinson Network Eastern Saxony (PANOS). PANOS aims to deliver timely and equal care to PD patients with a collaborative intersectoral structured care pathway.

Digital Treatment of Back Pain versus Standard of Care: The Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial, Rise-uP.

Purpose: Non-specific low back pain (NLBP) causes an enormous burden to patients and tremendous costs for health care systems worldwide. Frequently, treatments are not oriented to existing guidelines. In the future, digital elements may be promising tools to support guideline-oriented treatment in a broader range of patients.

Quickcard-Based Approach to Guiding Specific Nonpharmacological Treatments in a German Parkinson's Network.

Interdisciplinary care has been shown to be effective at optimizing the treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease. An optimized collaboration between the various healthcare providers involved in the treatment process facilitates successful care. One of the main shortcomings in the German healthcare system is the limited and unstandardized communication between practitioners.

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an integrated care program for schizophrenia: an analysis of routine data.

In Germany, a regional social health insurance fund provides an integrated care program for patients with schizophrenia (IVS). Based on routine data of the social health insurance, this evaluation examined the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the IVS compared to the standard care (control group, CG). The primary outcome was the reduction of psychiatric inpatient treatment (days in hospital), and secondary outcomes were schizophrenia-related inpatient treatment, readmission rates, and costs.

[Medical care of patients with spasticity following stroke : Evaluation of the treatment situation in Germany with focus on the use of botulinum toxin].

Background: Upper limb spasticity is a common complication following stroke. Cohort studies found 19% of post-stroke patients had upper limb spasticity at 3 months and 38% of patients at 12 months. For focal spasticity, intramuscular injections of botulinum toxin are indicated.

[Exposure to limited resources in the gastroenterology - results of a survey of hospital physicians].

The hospital sector is currently characterized by a high economic pressure. As well the DRG system as the investment financing by the federal states imply financial limitations. Hospitals react to this situation by trying to reduce costs and to increase case volume.

Evaluation of an integrated care program for schizophrenia: concept and study design.

Concept and design of an independent scientific evaluation of different pathways of care for schizophrenia patients in Germany with respect to effectiveness and efficiency are presented. In this prospective, observational study, schizophrenia patients receiving an integrated care treatment, the intervention group (IG), are compared with patients under routine care conditions treated by the same physician (first control group, CG 1). A second control group (CG 2) of patients treated by office-based psychiatrists not participating in the integrated care program will be recruited and their data compared with the two other groups.