Integrated care TK

Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) an innovative, nationwide, pioneering contract under Section 140f of the German Social Code (SGB) for the integrated care of insured individuals with migraines, chronic headaches, neuralgia, and nerve pain, in order to provide its members throughout Germany with modern, high-quality care. The implementation of this concept was recognized as the best integrated care project in Germany in 2012 and first prize for healthcare networking .

The needs of their insured patients, their care and treatment, are paramount. The Kiel Pain Clinic developed its integrated care concept as early as 1992 and implemented it in its practice in 1997. Accompanying scientific research has confirmed its high and sustained effectiveness.

Integrated care is described as "the healthcare model of the future." Behind this term lies a simple yet highly effective approach: the three service areas of the healthcare system—outpatient, inpatient, and rehabilitative care—are to be better integrated. Healthcare professionals from different disciplines in practices and hospitals are to collaborate not only more closely with each other, but also with non-physician service providers such as pharmacists, physiotherapists, and psychologists.

Such networking primarily benefits patients. Increased knowledge, improved information exchange among all involved parties, and collaborative work towards a clearly defined therapeutic goal are fundamental prerequisites for effective and sustainable care.

The 2004 healthcare reform places integrated care – the networking of individual medical and non-medical care sectors – at the heart of treatment and actively promotes it. This noticeably improves the quality of medical care for patients.

Below you will find information on how to participate in the treatment program, how it works, and which doctors and clinics are involved. Numerous other health insurance companies have joined the program. You can find more information here.

 

In the Techniker Krankenkasse 's integrated care project, a national network of specialists from outpatient and inpatient settings collaborates to optimally coordinate and alleviate pain across disciplines and sectors using state-of-the-art methods. The treatment network is geared towards the specialized, interdisciplinary care of severely affected patients with severe chronic headache disorders, such as...

• Severe and frequent migraines,
• Chronic tension-type headaches
• Cluster headaches
• Headaches due to medication overuse
• Post-traumatic headaches
• Other symptomatic headaches
• Neuralgia
• Headaches with complex accompanying conditions
• Rare forms of headache with severe suffering, etc.

 

The integrated networked supply consists of three phases:

• Phase I: Specialized diagnostics, selection of cross-sectoral treatment pathways, treatment on site
• Phase II: Inpatient, cross-sectoral neurological and behavioral medicine treatment at the Kiel Pain Clinic
• Phase III: Outpatient monitoring of progress and success, cross-sectoral monitoring of the therapy process on site

 

The pain condition is diagnosed and the treatment plan is coordinated. The measures include:

• Standardized medical history and evaluation of external findings
• Pain analysis
• Clarification of the diagnosis
• Development of a therapy plan
• Upon fulfillment of the admission criteria, registration for inpatient treatment within the framework of Phase II
• An admissions conference, together with the referring physician, decides on admission

In this section, the cross-sectoral neurological-behavioral medicine treatment takes place on an inpatient basis at the Kiel Pain Clinic, with the integrated therapy procedures being used simultaneously in a coordinated manner.

• Refinement, updating and supplementation of neurological and behavioral medicine diagnostics (multiprofessional individual case diagnostics)
• Analysis of the biological, psychosocial and economic conditions of chronic pain.
• Reduction of pain-induced disability.
• Improvement of future performance capacity.
• Specific diagnosis and treatment of psychological and social illness conditions and their effects on the experience of illness.
• Advice on individual pain disorders, mechanisms of development, and drug-based and non-drug-based treatment methods for self-control and self-treatment of pain disorders.
• Advice on issues of remaining work capacity and possible initiation of vocational rehabilitation measures.
• Offering a multidimensional inpatient treatment concept that combines drug and non-drug strategies, including
  • Identifying and avoiding trigger and amplification mechanisms
  • Medication break/withdrawal
  • Dietary change
  • Relaxation techniques, e.g., progressive muscle relaxation
  • Biofeedback methods
  • Stress management training
  • Operant and cognitive procedures
  • Self-confidence training
  • physiotherapy
  • Physical therapy methods
  • Stimulation procedures
  • Drug-based pain prophylaxis
  • Drug therapy for attacks, etc.

• Offering individual and group therapy, behavioral medicine treatment concepts for coping with acute and chronic pain conditions
• Everyday behavioral medicine and sociotherapeutic measures for reintegration into family and work
• Development of follow-up and long-term care concepts hand in hand with the pre- and post-treatment physician for outpatient follow-up treatment

 

Over a period of one year after enrollment in the integrated care program, outpatient progress and success monitoring is carried out at regular intervals and the therapy is individually adjusted.

• Standardized assessment of therapy efficacy at three-month intervals
• If necessary, short-term inpatient readmission
• Patient seminars on coping with illness
• Cross-sector training courses for participating doctors, psychologists, etc.
• Online consultation, digital progress and success monitoring with the migraine app, etc.

 

First, schedule an appointment with a local network partner. You can find pain specialists who cooperate within the nationwide headache treatment network on the headache network partner map. For a quick search, enter your postal code and city (e.g., 24149 Kiel) in the radius search. All addresses within the selected radius of your entered location will be displayed. The addresses are also listed below the map, where you can find detailed information. You can also find local pain specialists using the migraine app .

Whether the treatment program is suitable for you and your condition will be decided by your attending physician together with you on-site, based on the examination findings. Please discuss this with them. They will help you make the decision. In cases of doubt, your doctor can clarify the admission decision via the network management hotline: +49 431 20099-400.

Should you be unable to secure a timely appointment at our in-person clinic, an outpatient consultation be arranged at the Headache Center of the Kiel Pain Clinic. For advice and to schedule an appointment, please call 0431-20099-400. Our online consultation service available.

If your doctor determines that the treatment program is the right path for you, you can participate in the program signing the enrollment form

 

Detailed information about the treatment process can be found on our website Homepage and in our Clinic information brochure
Further individual information regarding inpatient admission can be found here by email or can be obtained via the central management telephone. Please be so kind as to familiarize yourself with the general formalities beforehand on our website. In this internet age, we no longer send brochures and documents by post.
Phone: 0431-20099120
Fax: 0431-20099129
iv-netz@schmerzklinik.de

 

Registration for outpatient pre- and post-treatment as well as to the outpatient follow-up examinations In our headache center, as part of integrated care, this is possible via:
Phone: 0431-20099400
Fax: 0431-20099409
praxis@schmerzklinik.de

 

For your outpatient treatment, please gather the following documents and bring prepared copies of all documents to your appointment for our records:

• Information page of the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) on tk.de
• Innovative forms of care in pain therapy
• Development and implementation of integrated care in pain therapy – The nationwide headache treatment network
• Award for healthcare networkers
• Kiel Pain Clinic and the nationwide headache treatment network
• TK brochure Security and Innovation 2009-2010
• TK flyer
• Information page of the Techniker Krankenkasse (health insurance company)
• Overview of the concept (Journal for Pain Therapy)
• dpa report
• Lecture by Prof. Dr. Rüschmann , www.gsbg.de
• Lecture by Dr. Dietrich Jungck
• Schleswig-Holstein newspaper publishing house
• Schleswig-Holstein Medical Journal
• Medical Journal
• Health Initiative Newsletter