Ärztemangel im ländlichen Raum – Neue Anreizstrukturen und innovative Versorgungsmodelle als Ausweg? Zur Bedeutung einer patientenorientierten Steuerung

In Germany there is an ongoing debate on the adequate distribution of physicians that are obliged to guarantee the overall access to health care. Especially in rural regions the number of general practioners will decline in the next years. From a health economics point of view it has to be discussed which role physicians have to play within different forms of organizing care and cure. In the paper, a standardized utility function that depicts physicians’ interest helps to figure out the range in which physicians have an interest to choose an engagement in rural environments contingent of aspects of risk sharing between caretaker und cost payers. In consequence, patient driven care models will enforce new organizational and institutional arrangements of division of labour between medical practitioners as well as new needs to reorganize regional medical facilities.