Germany - Country case study on the integrated delivery of long-term care (2020)

WHO Regional Office for Europe series on integrated delivery of long-term care

This report describes the provision of long-term care in Germany, with an emphasis on identifying efforts to foster the integrated delivery of services. There is mandatory statutory or private long-term care insurance for the entire population; eligibility for long-term care is open to people with any restricted competencies in daily life. Long-term care encompasses cash benefits, benefits in kind or residential care. Health expenditure is high, and coordination of care across ambulatory, hospital, rehabilitative and long-term care remains a challenge. Although the system performs well by several measures, strengthening the role of general practitioners and primary care could result in reduction in amenable mortality and preventable hospitalization while fostering integration of care and case management in long-term care.