EUROHEALTH

Transforming health services
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Copenhagen: WHO, 2015.
PEOPLE-CENTRED
POPULATION HEALTH
MANAGEMENT
IN GERMANY
By: Oliver Groene, Helmut Hildebrandt, Lourdes Ferrer and K. Viktoria Stein
Summary: Since 2006 the Gesundes Kinzigtal (GK) model has
demonstrated how a people-centred focus on population health
management can lead to significant gains in achieving the Triple Aim
of better population health, improved experience of care, and reduced
per capita costs. Through a strong management organization, a
sophisticated data management system, and a trusting relationship
between network partners and the communities, the GK model has
been able to provide better outcomes for all partners involved.
Keywords: People-Centred Care, Population Health Management, Integrated Care
Outcomes, Germany
Oliver Groene is Head of Research
and Development and Helmut
Hildebrandt is Chairman of the
Board, OptiMedis AG, Hamburg,
Germany; Lourdes Ferrer is
Director of Programmes and
K. Viktoria Stein is Head of the
Integrated Care Academy at the
International Foundation for
Integrated Care, Oxford, UK.
Email: o.groene@optimedis.de
Background
In Europe, cardiovascular diseases,
cancer, diabetes, obesity, and chronic
respiratory diseases account for an
estimated 77% of the disease burden
as measured by disability-adjusted life
years. Between 70% and 80% of health
care costs in Europe are due to chronic
disease management. In monetary
terms, this corresponds to €700 billion
and this figure is expected to increase
substantially in coming years. 1 2 This
represents a major challenge for health
systems across Europe and has profound
social and economic implications, as
patients with chronic conditions often
require treatment and care from different
practitioners in multiple institutions and
settings over time. However fragmented
governance and funding mechanisms,
misaligned incentives, and vested interests
often impede a continuum of care. Not
surprisingly, poorly integrated systems are
frequently associated with inefficiencies,
consumer dissatisfaction, and restricted
access to and poor quality of health
care services. 3
Given the evidence and experience of the
past 15 years, it is now widely accepted
that in order to achieve a safe, effective,
patient-centred, timely, efficient, and
equitable health care system, we need
to overcome the fragmentation of care
and strengthen the focus on population
health. 4 5 To tackle these challenges,
the call for a transformation of health
services to strengthen people-centred care
has been taken up by policy makers and
managers and has led to the adoption of
Eurohealth — Vol.22 | No.2 | 2016