Today, the Kiel Pain Clinic can look back on 20 years of innovative patient care. On January 3, 1998, the first patients were admitted for inpatient, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral treatment. The Kiel Pain Clinic was founded in 1997 as a scientific model project at the University Hospital of Kiel by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Göbel and contractually supported by the AOK (a major German health insurance provider). With the Techniker Krankenkasse (a major German health insurance provider), the concept was then adapted for nationwide care, and an innovative outpatient-inpatient treatment network with over 450 independent pain therapists across Germany was initiated. Today, the clinic operates as a nationwide center for multimodal pain therapy, collaborating with regional pain therapists in private practices and hospitals, using coordinated treatment plans. Our clinic treats over 1,800 inpatients annually from all over Germany and worldwide. To ensure access to care for members of all health insurance providers, the clinic was included in the hospital plan at the end of 2013. In addition, in accordance with the care agreement pursuant to Sections 108 No. 3 and 109 of the German Social Code, Book V (SGB V), the clinic provides acute inpatient treatment (Section 39 Paragraph 1 SGB V) for insured persons residing outside of Schleswig-Holstein who are members of the health insurance associations, for the indications of chronic pain due to diseases of the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including the muscles, within the framework of neurological-behavioral medicine treatment procedures. Eighty beds are currently available for this purpose.

Our treatment concept focuses on neurological pain disorders such as migraines, chronic headaches, and other pain conditions resulting from diseases of the nervous system. These are among the ten most disabling conditions and, after dementia and stroke, among the three most expensive neurological diseases. Traditional sectoral boundaries in care and medical specialties exacerbate their tendency to become chronic.

The core element is multimodal pain therapy, i.e., the consistent interdisciplinary implementation of international scientific knowledge and differentiated service requirements to meet the needs of patients, indication-specific cooperation of specialized practitioners and networking.

The Kiel Pain Clinic has embraced modern developments in medicine, particularly integrated care. Integrated care (IC) means that treatment is not limited by specialty boundaries. The separation between outpatient and inpatient care is also eliminated. Experts from various medical disciplines collaborate to provide patients with optimally coordinated treatment using state-of-the-art methods. Outpatient and inpatient treatment are networked and aligned. This enables treatment based on the latest medical standards without sectoral barriers.

The goal is to provide lasting pain relief, restore quality of life, and enable patients to return to work. The clinic has received numerous awards for its innovative treatment concept, including the prize for the best implementation of integrated care in Germany. Patient satisfaction within the nationwide treatment network is very high, a fact repeatedly confirmed by both patients and health insurance companies. The clinic collaborates scientifically with leading international headache and pain centers and serves as a global model for similar institutions worldwide.

We aim to make all available national and international knowledge for the treatment of chronic pain directly accessible to patients, both now and in the future, while taking into account the highly specialized needs of people with chronic pain. In addition, we are focusing our attention on research into neurological pain disorders, migraines, and other headaches in order to further improve future treatments. The collaboration between innovative health insurance companies and specialists has enabled exemplary progress in care nationwide, extending beyond standard services. This progress must be maintained and expanded.

On the 20th anniversary of the Kiel Pain Clinic, I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has worked so diligently to make it possible. I would especially like to thank our exceptionally dedicated team, which now comprises over 100 employees.

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Göbel