Health as a key resource: How health systems need to be transformed for the future [20.05.21]
Today and especially in times of pandemics, health is important as never has been before. Healthcare has long been an important cornerstone in national and global strategies, but not only in economic terms. Innovative health care is an indispensable component of modern public services locally and regionally. In addition to public health care, a novel second health market is emerging that is centered around our nutrition, body, sport and wellbeing during all stages of life. This change is accelerated by increasing liberalisation and economisation of the health sector, by new sophisticated technologies, scientific findings, and – above all - by a completely new health awareness and culture.
Picture Source & Copyright: Shutterstock
(Adapted from https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/artikel/ihealth-co-gesundheit-im-jahr-2040/.)
Most national and international health care systems are in the process of re-examining their structures, services, and related tax, compensation and incentivisation systems.
Smarter Health Care
is the focus of a Swiss National Research Program worth 20 Million Swiss Francs (NRP 74). A current project with contributions from the Hohenheim Chair of Economics & Management of Social Services (Head: Prof. Dr. Ernst) for example deals with reforming options for the compensation and incentivisation system for primary care providers and pediatricians in Switzerland and Germany. The project is carried out in cooperation with the University of Basel (Project Lead/ Main Applicant: Prof. Dr. Felder).
The aim of the project is to investigate how reforms in Switzerland and Baden-Württemberg may affect outpatient medical services and healthcare costs. The aim is to identify options for re-designing compensation and incentive schemes in order to avoid oversupply and to mitigate exploding healthcare costs.
Prof. Dr. Ernst and his team are responsible for the analysis of the differences in compensation models for pediatricians in Baden-Württemberg. Scenario-based modeling shall reveal how changing certain parameters might affect availability and quality of services.
Sensor-Supported Telepsychotherapy for Children and Adolescents
In a second project (SSTeP-KiZ) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the team around Prof. Ernst works together with colleagues from the Centre for Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy in Childhood and Adolescence (University Hospital Tübingen) and from the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research. Here, the scientists aim to significantly improve the treatment options for mentally impaired children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorders by equipping them with wearable sensors and analysing their multi-modal sensor data output. By this tele-psychotherapeutic intervention, affected children and adolescents can be supported in their home environment. By means of an integrated analysis and evaluation of movement and image data, eye-tracking, as well as physiological markers (e.g. heart rate, pupillometry etc.), real-time conclusions can be drawn about the emotional state and stress reactions and thus will enable immediate intervention upon symptom-triggering stimuli.
The project is part of the BMBF Research Program „Digital Innovation“ towards the improvement of patient-centered health care systems.
 | Prof. Dr. Christian Ernst |
