Delegation of GP-home visits to qualified practice assistants: assessment of economic effects in an ambulatory healthcare centre.

Background: Against the background of a decreasing number of general practitioners (GPs) in rural regions in Germany, the AGnES-concept (AGnES = GP-supporting, community-based, e-health-assisted, systemic intervention) supports the delegation of regular GP-home visits to qualified practice assistants. The concept was implemented and evaluated in different model projects in Germany. To explore the economic effects of this concept, the development of the number of home visits in an ambulatory healthcare centre was analysed and compared with the number of home visits in the surrounding county.