Long /post COVID outpatient clinics set up at MHH and UMG

General practitioners and specialists make a preliminary diagnosis and take over registration

New contact points for long-COVID diseases are being set up at Hannover Medical School (MHH) and University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) with immediate effect. The model institute outpatient clinics will initially be affiliated with the Center for Rare Diseases at MHH and the Central Emergency Department at UMG for one year.

On the initiative of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science, MHH and UMG have reached a corresponding agreement with the AOK Lower Saxony and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds of Lower Saxony (vdek) as well as all other statutory health insurance associations. The aim is to enable those affected to receive structured and interdisciplinary treatment as quickly as possible if their needs go beyond general practitioner and specialist care. In particular, people affected by persistent incapacity for work or school or severe chronic fatigue are to be helped. Following the one-year pilot phase, the experiences and needs will be reviewed and a possible continuation of the services will be examined.

Lower Saxony's Minister of Health Dr. Andreas Philippi: "I would like to thank everyone involved for their great commitment and willingness to cooperate! We all want to help those affected and gain further knowledge about long/post COVID. The late effects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection can be very serious and the treatment correspondingly complex. With their expertise, the excellent specialists at MHH and UMG are the right people to turn to in complex cases. Central to our concept is the preliminary diagnosis by our GP and specialist colleagues. It is not uncommon for it to turn out that another illness is the cause of the symptoms, in which case the appropriate treatment can be initiated immediately."

Lower Saxony's Science Minister Falko Mohrs: "The Covid-19 pandemic has presented Lower Saxony's infection medicine with major challenges - but at the same time has made enormous progress in networking research and care. This makes it all the more important to stay on the ball when it comes to researching the long-term consequences of the pandemic: As part of the COFONI network, we are funding research projects that consider all relevant medical and social effects with around nine million euros. In addition, we are enabling the initiation of further relevant research projects, for example in the field of personalized medicine and the fight against rare diseases, with funds of up to 25 million euros from zukunft.niedersachsen. I am delighted that the new care services at MHH and UMG will facilitate the transfer of new findings into medical practice and give patients new prospects for diagnosis and treatment."

Dr. Jürgen Peter, Chairman of the Board of AOK Lower Saxony: "With the new outpatient clinics, we are taking a decisive step in the interdisciplinary care of long/post-Covid sufferers in Lower Saxony. We are helping them with well-structured and networked treatment from the family doctor to the specialist outpatient clinic. In addition, we continue to provide those affected in Lower Saxony with orientation, perspective and a sympathetic ear with our Long Covid hotline. By initiating rehabilitation measures at an early stage, we also offer our policyholders an unbureaucratic path to specialized facilities together with the German Pension Insurance."

vdek regional director Hanno Kummer: "We are pleased to be able to contribute to the new care options as a substitute health insurance provider. We are sure that those affected will have good places to go. It is particularly important that there is care with different levels of specialization. In this sense, the new highly specialized service effectively complements treatment by general practitioners and specialists. This benefits patients with particularly severe or complex illnesses."

"By establishing this care structure in accordance with the G-BA guideline, we are taking on a pioneering role nationwide in Lower Saxony. Thanks to their interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral networking, Centers for Rare Diseases are predestined to provide better care for patients of all age groups," explains Dr. Vega Gödecke, Senior Physician in Internal Medicine at the MHH. "Our interprofessional team acts as guides to ensure the right diagnosis and treatment."

"The establishment of special outpatient clinics with an interdisciplinary focus is of great importance for these systemic diseases in order to ensure a comprehensive, patient-oriented range of care. The aim is to enable patients to quickly reintegrate into their everyday professional and personal lives. The connection of the Long-/Post-COVID Outpatient Clinics to the university hospitals ensures the necessary interdisciplinarity and specialist expertise," says Prof. Dr. Sabine Blaschke, Medical Director of the Central Emergency Department and the Long-/Post-COVID Outpatient Clinic at the UMG.

Thorsten Schmidt, Deputy Chairman of the KVN Board of Directors: "Post- and long-COVID concern us far beyond the corona pandemic. GPs and specialists are the first point of contact for many patients in post-COVID situations. This also poses major challenges for GP practices. Diagnosis is difficult and time-consuming, and patients require a lot of discussion. The new care concept is therefore a milestone in cross-sector networking for the treatment of corona-related long-term effects."

Patient care is initially provided by doctors participating in SHI-accredited care in accordance with the "Directive on cross-professional, coordinated and structured care for insured persons with suspected long-COVID and diseases with a similar cause or manifestation". Patients are cared for by general practitioners; if the type, severity and complexity of the disease are appropriate, a referral to specialist care should be made. At the same time, the treating GPs/specialists can use a registration form to register patients at the MHH and UMG. The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians of Lower Saxony (KVN) recently informed the panel doctors about this new service in a circular and sent out the registration form.

The service is aimed at patients of all ages with the following illnesses, depending on the needs and severity of the illness in each individual case:

• with long-COVID disease (suspected or already confirmed) or
• with long-COVID disease with similar symptoms as a result of another infection (post-acute) or
• with long-COVID-like symptoms following a SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (post-vac) or
  • with ME/CFS (suspected or confirmed) as a result of infection with SARS-CoV-2
  • due to other causes

The registration of patients via the registration form is carried out exclusively by the referring practice. Finally, MHH and UMG make recommendations on the further treatment plan to the referring GP or specialist.

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