Cooperation between the occupational health insurance and physicians practicing occupational dermatology: Optimization potential in quality assurance

Abstract

Background: Quality assurance is a task of the medical profession, but it is also a duty of the occupational health insurance (OHI). Data on the interaction quality between physicians practicing occupational dermatology and the OHI are limited.Material and Methods: An online survey was performed in 854 German members of the Working Group on Occupational and Environmental Dermatology in October 2013. Items included demographic data, a judgment on the cooperation between the dermatologists and OHI companies, an economic grading of the current compensation scheme, and priorization of optimization tasks. Results: 182 members ( 21.3 % of the invited population) participated in the survey. The cooperation with the OHI companies was judged as `` very good'' by 10.8 %, as `` good'' by 56.7 %, as `` satisfactory'' by 24.2 %, as `` sufficient'' by 7.0 % and as `` insufficient'' by 1.3 %. 93.4 % of the interviewed mentioned problems and improvement potentials in the cooperation of their practice or clinic with OHI companies. Main points of criticisms were reimbursement ( 44.7 %), followed by impairments of the treatment options ( 36.5 %) and the delay or scope of the treatment in the dermatologist's procedure ( 29.4 %). Conclusions: While most physicians practicing occupational dermatology give a positive judgment of their cooperation with OHI companies, quality optimization potentials exist - regarding the reimbursement of dermatological services, especially regarding time-intensive counselling in the prevention of occupational skin diseases, in the enablement of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures according to current guidelines and in a timely preventive intervention to use the therapeutic window before chronification of skin diseases may occur.