Versorgungsatlas Rheumatologie

Inflammatory rheumatic diseases affect 1.5 million adults and an estimated 20,000 children and adolescents throughout Germany. The successful treatment of these patients is largely based on the availability of high-quality medical care. To be able to provide sufficient care and prevent long waiting times even though the number of rheumatologists is below demand, efficient practice structures and approaches that go beyond standard care play an important role. The present study takes a look at the current state of rheumatological outpatient care as well as innovative care initiatives to support the service provision structures and to improve the care situation in rheumatology and points out: to ensure guideline-based care despite scarce resources, selective contracts, integrated outpatient specialist care (ASV), early or emergency consultation hours, disease management programs (DMP) and appropriate delegation of medical services play an important role. New care concepts increasingly focus on interdisciplinary cooperation (DMP and ASV), strengthened self-management through structured patient training (DMP) and targeted patient management through screening tools. To ensure an up to date and high-quality treatment in the long term, an increase in further training in rheumatology is necessary. This should be achieved by attracting more students and, if necessary, adjusting the training system.