Austrian Health System Oncology

1
Austrian Health System(Oncology)

• Willi Oberaigner

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Health Insurance/Practitioners

• Public Health Insurance if obligatory for
  (nearly) everybody
• In additiion private insurance (for private
  hospitals/private patients)
• Social service for people without insurance (i.e.
  homeless people, very few of them)
• Visit to medical doctor (with contract to
  insurance company) is free of charge

3
Public/Private Hospitals

• Most of hospitals are public
• Access is free for cancer patients (in-patient
  and out-patient)
• System of private patients (free choice of
  medical doctor), payed by private insurance or
  cash
• Private hospitals are mostly payed by private
  insurance or cash

4
Diagnostic/Treatment of Cancer Patients

• First step in most cases is GP or Specialist
• Most of diagnostic/therapy done in hospitals
• Only few specialised units (hematology-oncology)
• Diagnostic is free of charge
• Therapy is free of charge (incl. drugs)
• Therapy following State of the art, few formal
  guidelines

5
Screening

• General health screening programme available for
  everybody (free of charge once a year)
• Few organised screening programmes
• Spontaneous screening for
• Breast Cancer (Mammography)
• Prostate Cancer (PSA) Tyrol!, but also in other
  provinces)
• Cervix
• Colorectal cancer (Vorarlberg)
• No nationwide organised screening programmes

6
Oncologic Rehabilitation/Palliative Care

• Rehabilitation
• Till last year only very few private institutions
  (private insurance or direct payment), now some
  public
• In general very few institutions
• Problem of who pays (which insurance comp.)
• Palliative care
• Few hospices (growing)
• Few organisations for palliative care
• Out-patient dep. for pain-killing
• Home based care!!

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Total Expenditure for Health1998
Source Stat. Austria , Gesh. JB 1998
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Public Heath Insurances(1998)
Source Stat. Austria , Gesh. JB 1998
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Numbers (1998)
Source Statistik Austria, Stat. JB 2001, Gesh.JB
1998