2022/05/19 by Vogeser, Michael
#Deutschland #Germany #Labordiagnostik #Labormedizin #Medicine and health #Statistik #Strukturdaten #Strukturqualität #laboratory diagnostics #laboratory medicine #statistics #structural data #structural quality
paper · doi:10.3205/lab000045
The structural quality of laboratory diagnostic services on a national level is of great relevance for medical care as a whole. In order to be able to identify longitudinal trends, the aim of the present study was to obtain basic statistical data on laboratory diagnostic care in the inpatient and outpatient sectors in Germany from publicly available sources and to evaluate them in a synopsis. Data material from the German Medical Association, the Federal Statistical Office, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and the Barmer Ersatzkasse proved to be particularly valuable. Important findings included the fact that specialists in laboratory medicine or microbiology make up about 0.5% of the entire German medical profession. This is in striking contrast to data from the Barmer Ersatzkassen, according to which in 2019 there were an average of 863 consultations of laboratory physicians per year for every 1,000 insured persons. Laboratory services account for around 2.7% of healthcare costs in Germany. The results show that fundamental aspects of laboratory medical care research can already be addressed on the basis of publicly available data.