[Differential Provision of Care for Patients with Mental Disorders by Different Care Providers. An Analysis of Reimbursement Claims in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania in 2010].

Aim of this study was to use reimbursement claims to analyse in how far the heterogeneous spectrum of mental disorders is reflected by the provision of care by different providers. Of the 728 542 reimbursement claims from the last quarter in 2010, most claims were billed for depressive (22.0%), somatoform (16.8%) and anxiety disorders (7.6%). Most claims were billed by general (50.7%), neurological/psychiatric (16.0%) or practices for internal medicine (10.6%). Claims from most providers reflected the expected spectrum of disorders per specialisation. General practices covered nearly the whole spectrum of disorders. Neurological/psychiatric practices billed more claims for depressive (26.6%) and, anxiety disorders (10.0%) or dementia (4.9%), practices for internal medicine billed more claims for somatoform (18.6%) or tobacco related disorders (13.5%). In the outpatient provision of care, a broad spectrum of disorders is cared for by a broad spectrum of providers. Outpatient practices, independently from their specialisation provide care for all kinds of disorders. At the same time, a focus of disorders along the spectrum of specialisation is observable.