DMP (disease management programme) triumph for Germany's Schmidt
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The signing of the first German disease management programme (DMP) last week must be seen as a triumph for health minister Ulla Schmidt, recently confirmed in her post in Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's new cabinet. Despite opposition from the doctors association and the German hospitals association (DKG) (see this issue, p 5), the North Rhineland association of statutory health insurance physicians (KVN) entered into contracts with seven sickness funds to provide optimum care for breast cancer sufferers.