German health law boosts breast cancer care:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The new health reform will greatly improve the level of breast cancer care in Germany, says parliamentary health secretary Marion Caspers-Merk. Speaking last week at the government-initiated conference series "healthcare on the move", Ms Caspers-Merk said that despite the efficacy of the health service, it still had some quality deficiencies. However, the health reform promoted integrated care, which meant that following inpatient treatment, cancer patients could be looked after properly even after they had been discharged, in the outpatient sector. This meant that there would be no loss of communication between doctors, and patients were not obliged to look for a new specialist after being discharged, said Ms Caspers-Merk. Other positive measures within the law were the establishment of disease management programmes and breast cancer centres, she said.