Objectives Since 2004 a large German health insurance company (Techniker Krankenkasse) has provided integrated inpatient health care (IHC) contracts to its members. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of this programme on patient satisfaction and health-related quality of life among...

In Germany, “self-help friendliness” is an upcoming popular concept for the promotion of patient centredness through closer cooperation of health care services with self-help groups of chronically ill and/or disabled patients and their relatives. The study aimed at gathering information from...