2007 Germany Health Study Tour
Germany October 13 –19, 2007
Host:
Sophia Schlette, M.P.H., Bertelsmann Foundation
Facilitator:
Uwe Reinhardt, Ph.D., Princeton University
Recent reforms: As the original social health insurance system, Germany is struggling with ways to control costs and improve the quality of care provided. Recent reforms continue to guarantee comprehensive benefits while, at the same time, shifting more risk to sickness funds and giving the funds more freedom to select providers. A range of new policies aims to institute disincentives for overutilization, improve coordination of services, stimulate the development of clinical standards of care, and create a culture of evaluation and improvement.
Tour topics and site visits:
In addition to general briefing sessions, including an overview of the German health system, reform of the historic financing system, and the challenges of demographic change and medical advancements, the tour enabled participants to meet with leading experts and high-level policymakers who addressed critical issues in the country, including:
- Health Systems Reform: How is Germany reforming its historic financing system to provide universal coverage, more competition, more choice, higher quality, better care coordination and more prevention-oriented care?
- Disease Management: As the first country to pass legislation promoting disease management (DM), what challenges has Germany faced in implementing DM on a national level? How is Germany moving from managing single diseases to managing multiple chronic conditions?
- Care Coordination: In 2004, the German Ministry of Health (MoH) identified and began regulating incentives to encourage better coordination of care across highly fragmented disciplines and professions. What has been learned from Germany 's integrated care pilots? What are the most recent recommendations on human resources and care coordination put forward by the MoH's Advisory Council on the Assessment of Developments in the Health Care System?
- Health Information Technology: What have been the successes and challenges of Germany 's e-Health initiatives, including its early experiences with the e-Health Card?
- Clinical Standards and Performance Measurement: How is Germany stimulating the development of clinical standards of care and creating a culture of transparency, evaluations and improvement? What is the role of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care?
Partner organization:
The Bertelsmann Foundation is dedicated to serving the common good. The belief that competition and civic involvement form an essential basis for social progress is central to the Foundation’s work and the 11 major projects it currently supports. One of these is the International Network for Health Policy and Reform. In this project, experts from 20 countries submit reports twice a year on recent developments in health policy. These reports include current information on health policy, ideas for reform, and assessments of their effectiveness. The Foundation is based in Gütersloh.
Germany Tour Itinerary 
Germany Participant List
2007 Study Tours Brochure
Shepherding Major Health System Reforms: A Conversation With German Health Minister Ulla Schmidt
Health Affairs, April 8, 2008
Uwe Reinhardt, James Madison professor of political economy, Princeton Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and Tsung-Mei Cheng, host and executive editor, International Forum, Princeton International Center, speak with German minister of health Ulla Schmidt.
