Health Care Research

Data and Facts
In the provision of health care for important widespread diseases in Germany, problems of over-treatment, under-treatment and improper treatment have been consistently identified. Health care process research can make an important contribution to overcoming such problems and to the further development of the health care system. Instruments developed on a scientific basis can be introduced into the health care system, and general information discovered about health care processes can be used in the development of ideas concerning health policy. A scientific basis is also required in broad areas for the desired evidence-based controlling of the health care system. Until a few years ago, such a systematic and scientific analysis of health care processes and consideration of the associated questions was hardly taking place in Germany, unlike in other countries. For this reason, a separate research branch of German health care research was established in 1999 in cooperation with the associations of the statutory health funds.

What Does the BMBF Do?
Together with the associations of the statutory health funds, the BMBF has agreed upon a subsidisation volume totalling six million euro (three million each from the BMBF and the statutory health funds) over six years. In order to implement this subsidisation, three announcements were published on the following topics:
- Treatment variations in Germany, health care processes for multimorbid, elderly persons, patients with heavy use of the health care system (2000)
- Controlling options for health care quality and service density over the course of chronic illnesses (2002)
- Input-output relationships of services and processes in health care, in particularly those involving the chronically ill (2004)
Up to mid-2007, a total of 30 projects have been or will be funded. In order to strengthen the established research structures in this important field, the BMBF, along with the German retirement pension system and the statutory and private health funds, intends in the future to establish another subsidisation focus on research at a level close to treatment processes.