Family therapies reduce doctor visits

Family Therapy: Save costs by involving relatives

09/03/2014

Data from the US show that family therapy measures can reduce the number of visits to a doctor's surgery and thus save money. At a conference on systemic research in therapy, pedagogy and organizational development, several hundred participants discussed systemic therapy. Nevertheless, the costs are not covered by the statutory health insurance.

Statutory funds do not cover costs
Systemic therapy, which considers systemic relationships and interpersonal relationships in a group as the basis for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and interpersonal conflict, is widely used and scientifically recognized worldwide. In Germany, however, it is not paid in the outpatient care by the statutory health insurance. The conclusion of a conference on systemic research in therapy, pedagogy and organizational development, which ended yesterday in Heidelberg, was therefore that there was a definite need for action in this area.

Participants discussed how social systems work
For three days, around 300 participants from 23 European countries and the US discussed how social systems, such as families, neighborhoods, schools or businesses, work or do not work. The topics of the symposium were also how these systems can be advised in crisis situations and how these complex interactions can be scientifically investigated. The marriage and family therapist at the University of Utah / USA, Professor Russell Crane, reported on his research on the effectiveness and costs of family therapy. The expert had evaluated the data of nearly 4,000 adolescents diagnosed as having debilitating behavior. For this purpose, the costs for medication and psychotherapy were available to him two and a half years after completion of the treatment.

Family therapies reduce physician visits
The family therapy proved to be cost effective. For example, the cost of one-to-one psychotherapeutic treatment averaged about $ 16,000 and family therapy in the therapist's room was about $ 11,000. For an outreach family therapy, where the therapist came home to the family, came to about 1,600 US dollars. A study with schizophrenic adults produced similar results. In addition, data from American insurance companies and from the state health service according to medizin-aspekte.de prove that family therapy measures, for example, reduce the number of doctor visits, especially for people with very frequent medical use.

Results transferable to Germany
According to the "Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung", conference chair Professor Matthias Ochs commented on the conclusion of the symposium: „The involvement of family members in the treatment is sustainable, cost effective, increases client acceptance, and we also reach the stepchildren of therapeutic care.“ So migrants, the elderly, the chronically ill as well as socially deprived people, for whom the inhibition threshold to visit a psychotherapist, would benefit from the systemic approach. According to Ochs, there are many indications that Crane's research results from the US healthcare system could also be transferred to Germany.

Systemic therapy works and saves
For the conference participants it was difficult to understand that Germany in the European comparison, the most generous publicly funded psychotherapy, but at the same time the highest state regulated, so far systemic family therapy as an outpatient service is not paid by the statutory health insurance. „Germany is the only country of 36 states in Europe where systemic therapy is not equivalent to other scientifically recognized therapies for healthcare financing“, said the chairman of the German Society for Systemic Therapy, Counseling and Family Therapy (DGSF) Bjoern Enno Hermans. „This speaks for itself - Systemic therapy works and saves and must finally be available to the population in Germany as a cash benefit.“ However, as the DGSF managing director Bernhard Schorn said, it could take years before a decision is made on the assumption of costs by the statutory health insurance companies. (Ad)