BDP Newsletter April 2016 Addresses Reimbursements and Refugee Mental Health

The German Association of Psychologists (BDP) issued its April 2016 newsletter, covering several key topics for professionals in the field. A significant point of discussion was the adjustment of reimbursements for psychotherapeutic services requiring approval, with retroactive payments being processed by some statutory health insurance associations (Kassenärztliche Vereinigungen).

The newsletter also highlighted concerns regarding the mental health of asylum seekers. The Psychotherapists' Chamber of Schleswig-Holstein passed a resolution emphasizing the seriousness of mental illnesses in this population, prompted by an interpretation aid for the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act. In response to the trauma many refugee children experience, the Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists published a guide for refugee parents in multiple languages.

Further updates included a decision by the Assessment Committee to implement a cap on structural allowances for psychotherapists, effective April 2016. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) expressed concerns that political decisions are increasingly undermining the principle of outpatient care over inpatient treatment.

Other topics covered in the newsletter included the German Ethics Council's call to anchor patient welfare as the standard for hospital care, a World Health Organization (WHO) study published in The Lancet Psychiatry confirming the economic benefits of treating mental disorders, and research from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research on the epigenetic impact of smoking during pregnancy.