[Interdisciplinary healthcare centres--a way of organising healthcare in the future from a health insurer's perspective]. / Interdisziplinäre Versorgungszentren--Eine Zukunftsoption zur Versorgungsgestaltung aus Krankenkassensicht.

The German healthcare system modernization act enables healthcare providers to fund interdisciplinary healthcare centres. The Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) is a statutory health sickness fund that has contracted with some of the interdisciplinary healthcare centres named ATRIO-MED to achieve high-quality medical care and healthcare management. A range of patient-centred services is described in the cooperation agreement; in addition to central medical patient records one of the core competencies includes integrated pathways for defined diagnosis. The concept of the interdisciplinary healthcare centre is highly accepted among patients. It will serve as a platform for future TK healthcare policies.

Continuous case management of a German statutory health insurance.

To support insured patients, especially those with chronic illnesses or disabilities, the German statutory health insurance Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) offers continuous case management (CCM) under a rehabilitation advisory program serving more than 150,000 insurees each year Rehabilitation advisors provide individual counseling, generally by telephone. They inform patients about treatment and rehabilitation options, about health care providers, and about other TK services. In a key feature, the model coordinates care across different health care sectors. Through the CCM approach, TK not only assures the best possible care for its insurees, but also safeguards its long-term financial sustainability.