Biomaterial Database

German health care reform: the next steps. 1998

T Jost

Ohio State University, USA.

From the U.S. perspective, the German health care system offers much to be desired: universal access, moderate costs, and freedom of choice. The Germans consider their health care system to be in crisis, however, because the mechanisms on which they currently rely for financing and paying for health care, as well as the structures through which medical care is delivered, seem increasingly less viable. Germany has recently adopted modest reforms to partially address these problems. For longer term solutions, however, some in Germany are looking to U.S. managed care models, for better or for worse.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008329	Managed Care Programs	Health insurance plans intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay; the establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery; selective contracting with health care providers; and the intensive management of high-cost health care cases. The programs may be provided in a variety of settings, such as HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS and PREFERRED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS.	Case Management, Insurance,Insurance Case Management,Managed Health Care Insurance Plans,Managed Care,Care, Managed,Managed Care Program,Management, Insurance Case,Program, Managed Care,Programs, Managed Care
D009313	National Health Programs	Components of a national health care system which administer specific services, e.g., national health insurance.	National Health Insurance, Non-U.S.,Health Services, National,National Health Insurance,National Health Insurance, Non U.S.,National Health Services,Services, National Health,Health Insurance, National,Health Program, National,Health Programs, National,Health Service, National,Insurance, National Health,National Health Program,National Health Service,Program, National Health,Programs, National Health,Service, National Health
D009936	Organizational Innovation	Introduction of changes which are new to the organization and are created by management.	Organizational Change,Change, Organizational,Innovation, Organizational,Changes, Organizational,Innovations, Organizational,Organizational Changes,Organizational Innovations
D005858	Germany	A country in central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark. The capital is Berlin.
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D018166	Health Care Reform	Innovation and improvement of the health care system by reappraisal, amendment of services, and removal of faults and abuses in providing and distributing health services to patients. It includes a re-alignment of health services and health insurance to maximum demographic elements (the unemployed, indigent, uninsured, elderly, inner cities, rural areas) with reference to coverage, hospitalization, pricing and cost containment, insurers' and employers' costs, pre-existing medical conditions, prescribed drugs, equipment, and services.	Healthcare Reform,Health Care Reforms,Healthcare Reforms,Reform, Health Care,Reform, Healthcare,Reforms, Health Care,Reforms, Healthcare
D019472	Universal Health Insurance	Health insurance coverage for all persons in a state or country, rather than for some subset of the population. It may extend to the unemployed as well as to the employed; to aliens as well as to citizens; for pre-existing conditions as well as for current illnesses; for mental as well as for physical conditions.	Universal Coverage,Coverage, Universal,Health Insurance, Universal,Insurance, Universal Health