Centralization, Specialization, and Outpatient Care for Head and Neck Tumor Patients – Challenges for Patients and Physicians

Introduction Demographic change in Germany goes along with an aging, more multimorbid population. At the same time, urbanization trends, medical overcapacities, and rising, also innovation-related, care costs are being observed in presence of a tight healthcare budget. Centralization, specialization, and outpatient care are intended to provide relief and can be partly controlled by modifications to remuneration or rather the diagnosis-related case group system (DRG) and the uniform assessment scale (EBM). This upheaval poses new challenges for patients and physicians.