It is possible: this is how costs can be saved in healthcare
Health insurance premiums
It is possible: this is how costs can be saved in healthcare
Integrated care has been praised as a future model in healthcare for years: high quality, efficient care, deeper costs. Now a scientifically accompanied example of diabetes treatment shows that it can work.
New figures show that structured treatment of diabetes leads to better health values and deeper costs.
Every twentieth person in Switzerland is affected by a form of diabetes. The metabolic disease not only requires constant monitoring of the insulin levels. Untreated, diabetes can trigger nerve damage, impair kidney function, provoke strokes or impair vision.
This requires close medical support for the patients. However, this is time-consuming because in addition to the general practitioner, the diabetes specialists, nutritionists and physiotherapists also participate. Treating diabetes is therefore a classic case for coordinated care, in which the various disciplines work closely together. An individual treatment plan with therapeutic goals, studies and training is intended to improve the treatment and reduce their costs through an efficient use of resources.
Saved per patient and 1873 francs
Now figures from the SWICA health insurance company and the Migros doctor’s practices Medbase show that coordinated care actually works in the event of diabetes. The Winterthur Institute for Health Economics (WIG) evaluated the data. The result: The diabetes program increased the quality of the supply and reduced the costs by 11.8 percent.
Specifically, the program brought patients to better follow the recommendations of the therapy plan, which in turn had a positive effect on their state of health. The control group, consisting of insured persons with a free choice of doctor, also showed significantly higher health costs at CHF 15,500 per person than patients who follow a structured treatment concept: in 2023 the savings effect was CHF 1873 per person.
The potential for better health and cost savings due to more targeted and structured treatments is therefore great. According to estimates, the direct health costs of diabetes amount to over one billion francs annually. The follow -up costs of untreated diabetes are much larger.
But what the study also shows that older and suffering people in particular stick to the free choice of doctor in their insurance model – and still have to be convinced of new treatment concepts.
