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Objectives: This paper addresses recent steps for reforming the eligibility criteria of the German long-term care insurance that have been initiated to overcome shortcomings in the current system. Methods: Based on findings of a survey of international long-term care systems, assessment tools and the relevant literature on care needs a new tool for determining eligibility in the German long-term care insurance was developed. Results: The new tool for determining long-term care eligibility broadens the understanding of what 'dependency on nursing care' implies for the person affected. The assessment results in a degree of dependency from personal help provided by formal or informal caregivers. This degree of dependency can be used for determining eligibility for and the amount of long-term care benefits. Discussion: The broader understanding of 'dependency on nursing care' and the new tool are important steps to adapt the German long-term care insurance to the challenges of the demographic and societal changes in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The abstract presents results of the "InterQuality Project - International Research Project on Financing Quality in Healthcare" funded by the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Technological Development of the European Union. Grant Agreement No: HEALTH-F3-2010-261369 Objective: To assess reliability, validity and completeness of data on pharmaceutical benefit financing components of health care in United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Poland Theory: Information and guidance used by authorities for decision making in the financing of pharmaceutical care should be reliable, valid and complete. Methods: A systematic review of literature published in the last 10 years, found electronically in Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library and SCOPUS, supplemented by a manual search, was conducted. Quality of publications was critically appraised using PRISMA [1], MOOSE [2] and STROBE [3] checklists. Contents of found literature were assessed in terms of consistency, coherence and strength. Results: In total, 439 full text publications were included, of which 198 papers were assessed for quality. Of these, 24,6%, 31,2% and 22,1% publications presented high levels of: consistency, coherence and strength, respectively, and 4,3% presented concurrently high levels of all assessed areas. Several areas of weak data availability were identified. Discussion: No comparable analyses were found. Credible data were often unavailable. A questionnaire and a template helpful to collect data where more information is needed were developed, validated and will be sent to experts from InterQuality Consortium countries. Conclusion: To improve the quality of information available to decision makers, so that it is more credible, multiple sources should be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]