Changes in the Use of Health Insurance Services before and after a Father-Child Measure

Introduction Since 2002 inpatient preventive and rehabilitative measures for fathers and their children (F-C-M) are available in the German health system ( 24 and 41 SGB V). So far there is no data on health disorders of the fathers in F-C-M. The aim of this study is to examine whether participants of F-C-M are more prone to health problems than fathers who are not participating in F-C-M and whether participation in F-C-M contributes to improved health. To do so, the change in the use of outpatient care services is examined and compared to the use of mentioned services by fathers who are not participating in an F-C-M. The research project is based on the routine data of AOK-Niedersachsen (AOKN). Methods Outpatient diagnoses and medications that were billed one year before and one year after the measure are used as outcome variables for outpatient use. The test sample (N = 179) includes all fathers who participated in a F-C-M in 2005-2009 and were insured throughout. For these fathers, a comparative group of fathers who had not participated in a F-C-M (N = 717) was formed in parallel. Results The investigation has shown that the participants of the FC-M received more diagnoses and medications before and after the measure than fathers without F-C-M. Fathers under 40 years mostly got fewer diagnoses and medications after the measure than before the measure, whereas older people showed a higher claim after the measure. The participants of the F-C-M mainly have more F-diagnoses than fathers without F-C-M. In addition to that the increase in I-diagnoses and the increase in cardiovascular drugs are striking compared to the previous year. Conclusion The increased use of the statutory health insurance benefits of participants of the F-C-M compared to non-participants indicates that the F-C-M is a health-impaired group of insured people. The high number of F-diagnoses further illustrates that the participants are particularly affected in this indication area. A positive effect of the measure is shown by the fact that younger fathers made reduced use of health insurance benefits, while in the case of older participants a treatment requirement was still predominant or was revealed in the context of the measure.