title: Germany's disease management program: improving outcomes in congestive heart failure.
abstract: Hospital admissions among patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) are a major contributor to health care costs. A comprehensive disease management program for CHF was developed for private and statutory health insurance companies in order to improve health outcomes and reduce rehospitalization rates and costs. The program comprises care calls, written training material, telemetric monitoring, and health reports. Currently, 909 members from six insurance companies are enrolled. Routine evaluation, based on medical data warehouse software, demonstrates benefits in terms of improved health outcomes and processes of care. Economical evaluation of claims data indicates significant cost savings in a pre/post study design.
authors.affiliation: ArztPartner almeda, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kottmair
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frye
authors.forename: Dieter J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Ziegenhagen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016896:Treatment Outcome