Health care of patients with post-COVID: Analyses of health insurance claims data and of the perspectives of patients, relatives and general practitioners
Project leader: Prof. Dr. Nils Schneider
Research field
- Health services research with regard to the long-term impacts of the pandemic
Who is involved?
- Prof. Dr. Nils Schneider (Project leader, MHH)
- Prof. Dr. Christian Krauth (MHH)
- Prof. Dr. Martina de Zwaan (MHH)
- Dr. PH Jona Theodor Stahmeyer (AOK)
- Prof. Dr. Eva Hummers (UMG)
- Priv.-Doz. Dr. Frank Müller (UMG)
- Prof. Dr. Christoph Herrmann-Lingen (UMG)
- Prof. Dr. Annika Herr (LUH)
What is the aim?
Following SARS-CoV-2 infection, some patients suffer from persistent fatigue, weakness, and exhaustion, which can considerably inhibit social and everyday life. For those affected by these symptoms, the general practitioner is the first contact person within the health care system. The correct interpretation of these patients’ frequently non-specific complaints poses a great challenge to general practitioners. Preexisting conditions, social situation, and the way patients cope with their complaints play a significant role in diagnosis and treatment. The objective of this project is to examine how these patients cope with their complaints in everyday life, which health care services they utilize both within and outside of the health care system, and which needs they have throughout different phases of their disease. As such, this project will provide answers to the question of how medical care should be designed for this group of patients. To achieve this, the project uses an innovative methodology, combining quantitative and qualitative methods of health care research: among other methods, claims data from a statutory health insurance provider (AOK Lower Saxony) will be analysed and linked with clinical-practical survey data (medical and psychosocial). In addition, the perspectives of relatives and general practitioners are collected, resulting in a multidimensional picture of the health care situation and potential need for change. Health economic analyses will provide a calculation of the cost for new health care services for both, the healthcare system and the patients.