The goal of this programme is to experiment with a new payment system for integrated diabetes care as an instrument to stimulate the forming of multidisciplinary integrated groups of professionals in diabetic care.
Ten Diabetes Care Groups have been selected to take part in this experiment. The ‘chain Diagnoses Treatment Combination (DTC) diabetes’ is comparable to the payment system by ‘Diagnoses Related Groups (DRC’s)’. The content of the product ‘Chain DTC diabetes’ is in accordance with de medical care standard of the Dutch Diabetes Federation, which include diabetes education.
The Care Group negotiates with the insurer about the price of the Chain DTC diabetes and acts as a contractor for the whole group. The idea is that acting as one contractor will stimulate the Care Group to collaborate more efficiently and form an integrated group containing all the professional disciplines involved in diabetes care. At the same time the insurer is stimulated to negotiate the lowest price possible, with the expected result that the Care group will rearrange and divide the different tasks as efficiently as possible.
In addition a sub programme has started to subsidize research on cost effectiveness of diabetes education methods and to implement proven cost-effective education methods. This sub programme will run from 2006 till about 2010.