Comparing the quality of care in physician networks to usual care for elderly patients in three German regions: a quasi-experimental cohort study.

Objectives: Patients in Germany have free choice of physicians in the ambulatory care sector and can consult them as often as they wish without a referral. This can lead to inefficiencies in treatment pathways. In response, some physicians have formed networks to improve the coordination and quality of care.

Preference-Based Implementation of Video Consultations in Urban and Rural Regions in Outpatient Care in Germany: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Particularly in rural regions, factors such as lower physician density and long travel distances complicate adequate outpatient care. However, urban regions can also be affected by deficits in care, for example, long waiting times. One model of care intending to improve the situation is the implementation of video consultations.

Development of indicators to assess quality and patient pathways in interdisciplinary care for patients with 14 ambulatory-care-sensitive conditions in Germany.

Background: In settings like the ambulatory care sector in Germany, where data on the outcomes of interdisciplinary health services provided by multiple office-based physicians are not always readily available, our study aims to develop a set of indicators of health care quality and utilization for 14 groups of ambulatory-care-sensitive conditions based on routine data. These may improve the provision of health care by informing discussions in quality circles and other meetings of networks of physicians who share the same patients.

Methods: Our set of indicators was developed as part of the larger Accountable Care in Deutschland (ACD) project using a pragmatic consensus approach.

Improving the continuity and coordination of ambulatory care through feedback and facilitated dialogue-a study protocol for a cluster-randomised trial to evaluate the ACD study (Accountable Care in Germany).

Background: Patients in Germany are free to seek care from any office-based physician and can always ask for multiple opinions on a diagnosis or treatment. The high density of physicians and the freedom to choose among them without referrals have led to a need for better coordination between the multiple health professionals treating any given patient. The objectives of this study are to (1) identify informal networks of physicians who treat the same patient population, (2) provide these physicians with feedback on their network and patients, using routine data and (3) give the physicians the opportunity to meet one another in facilitated network meetings.