Rolling Medical Practice: Ambulant Mobile Medical Care for Rural Areas.
We designed, constructed, and evaluated a mobile medical care vehicle called "Rollende Arztpraxis" (rolling medical practice, RMP) that delivers the full medical care of a general practitioner to increase medical care supply in rural areas. Six communities have been identified, where the RMP has been visited 501 times in 14 months. Two different schedules of stops and treatment times have been tested. We show that the RMP treated mainly elderly and multimorbid patients. An accompanying study showed high acceptance and satisfaction of treated patients and treating doctors. An economic evaluation of three different utilization models with three treatment modes each showed no financial sustainability. We show that ambulatory care in rural areas can be complemented by a mobile care unit, if legal and financial barriers can be overcome.
Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig, Germany.
Jonas
J
Schwartze
Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig, Germany.
Klaus-Hendrik
KH
Wolf
Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig, Germany.
Sebastian
S
Schulz
Braunschweig Centre of Informatics and Technology GmbH (BITZ), Braunschweig, Germany.
Maike
M
Rochon
Braunschweig Centre of Informatics and Technology GmbH (BITZ), Braunschweig, Germany.
Markus
M
Wagner
Wolfsburg AG, Wolfsburg, Germany.
Uwe
U
Bannenberg
Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig, Germany.
Markus
M
Drews
Sozialversicherung für Landwirtschaft, Forsten und Gartenbau, Kassel.
Thomas
T
Fischer
Wolfsburg AG, Wolfsburg, Germany.
Torben
T
Hellwig
Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians Lower Saxony, Braunschweig, Germany.
Stefan
S
Hofmann
AOK - Die Gesundheitskasse für Niedersachsen, Hannover, Germany.
Petra
P
Höft-Budde
Wolfsburg AG, Wolfsburg, Germany.
Ralf
R
Jäger
Deutsche BKK, Wolfsburg, Germany.
Stefan
S
Lorenz
Integrated Municipality Schöppenstedt, Schöppenstedt, Germany.
Ruth
R
Naumann
Braunschweig Centre of Informatics and Technology GmbH (BITZ), Braunschweig, Germany.
Maik
M
Plischke
AOK - Die Gesundheitskasse für Niedersachsen, Hannover, Germany.
Jörg
J
Reytarowski
Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians Lower Saxony, Braunschweig, Germany.
Constanze
C
Richter
County of Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel, Germany.
Christiana
C
Steinbrügge
County of Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel, Germany.
Anja
A
Ziegenspeck
Wolfsburg AG, Wolfsburg, Germany.
Julius
J
von Ingelheim
Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig, Germany.
Reinhold
R
Haux
D005240:Feasibility Studies; D058006:General Practice / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany; D008952:Mobile Health Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*