Kinzigtal, Germany
Region profile
The middle Kinzigtal including the cities Gengenbach, Haslach, Zell am Harmersbach, Hausach and Hornberg is located in the centre of the black forest and belongs to the Ortenaukreis which is the largest county (1.851 square meters) of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.
The river Kinzig connects the hills of the black forest with the Rhine Valley. The river starts on 682 meters above sea level near the city of Freudenstadt and ends 100 km from the city Kehl in the Rhine. The Kinzigtal is characterized by its agricultural environment (especially wine and fruit growing) and its rural spirit. Because of the mild climate the region is very attractive for tourism and sports like e.g. hiking and moutainbiking. But also the manufactural and medium sized industrial sector is very well established and builds the core of the economical strength in this region. Over the last years the unemployment rate has remained less than 4% and is therefore one of the lowest ones in Germany.
A good transport connection because of the highways and the train infrastructure makes it easy to travel to France and Switzerland, which are very close to the German border.
Health and Social Care in the Region
The total population within the western and central Kinzigtal region – the service area of the Gesundes Kinzigtal integrated care system – amount to about 71.300 inhabitants. Nearly half of these (31.000) are insured by AOK Baden-Württemberg (about 29.300 assureds) and by LKK Baden-Württemberg (about 1.700 assureds). Both are statutory health insurers (sickness funds); AOK BW is open to anyone whereas LKK BW is open only to farmers and their dependents. Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH is in economically accountable of the total health care budget of all these 31.000 assureds (see Figure 1), regardless whether they are treated by physicians who take part in the project or not and regardless where they are treated.
BeyondSilos in Kinzigtal
BeyondSilos in Kinzigtal is organised around the enhancement of an already very successful cooperation
network of healthcare providers in the region managed by Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH. It will expand the existing electronic information and communication system to social care institutions. So far social and
healthcare providers in the region hold separate client records without any data sharing between them,
leading to inefficiencies, sometimes duplication of work and reduced quality of care for people with complex needs.
Contextualised implementation of the Beyond Silos pilot service provides a framework that allows the cooperation of health and social carers to provide better services for people being discharged from hospital and people living with long term needs at home. It is expected that joint care planning and delivery can reduce hospitalisation rates and enable high quality provision of care.
