PANOS has the goal of sustainably improving the care of Parkinson’s patients in the region of Eastern Saxony. This is based on a digitally supported integrated and cross-sectoral care concept.

The care of people with chronic, age-related diseases such as Parkinson’s disease represents a core medical care challenge. The Saxony region is particularly affected in this regard: Firstly, the population has the highest average age in Germany, and secondly, more than 50 percent of the population lives in rural areas far from a highly diversified medical infrastructure.

The prevalence of idiopathic Parkinson’s syndrome will continue to increase with the demographic development. Today, there are already more than 32,000 Parkinson’s patients living in Saxony, 41 percent of these patients are not treated by neurologists but by general practitioners. In order to meet the increasing number of people affected and the increasing therapeutic requirements, it is necessary to join forces in a specialized care network.

Within the framework of PANOS, a digitally supported, intersectoral and pathway-based care concept is to be established in a sustainable manner. It focuses on the late phase of the disease. The basis for a standardized, quality-assured and efficient patient care is a structured medical pathway.

The treatment concept of PANOS is based on six pillars:

1. Network: Development of an intersectional and integrated care network
2. Care pathway: structure as the foundation of quality and efficiency
3. Intersectoral electronic medical record and digital sensors: digital innovation as base for collaborative pathway-based patient care
4. Parkinson’s disease guides as intersectoral case managers and personal points of contact for patients and service providers: the personnel backbone of the network
5. School for patients and further education as a foundation for standardized treatment: knowledge dissemination for patients and care providers
6. Evaluation: what are the effects of PANOS as a care delivery intervention?

In the PANOS project, the inav is particularly responsible for activities in the area of network and quality management. This includes the identification, prioritization and approach of potential network partners. The aim is to establish a lively network of actors involved in Parkinson’s care in Eastern Saxony. Furthermore, the inav gathers and processes data together with other consortium partners to ensure the network structure as well as the process and outcome quality.

PANOS is funded by the German government based on a decision of the German Bundestag. The project is also co-financed from tax revenues under the budget passed by the Saxon state parliament.

Further information

www.panos.care

The inav supports various Parkinson’s networks in Germany since 2020. Within the framework of the working group “Networks and Digital Care” of the German Society for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, we manage networking activities on a national level. The Parkinson Network Germany will be a meta structure in the future, which will take over tasks of coordination, communication, quality assurance, public relations and nationwide networking.

Parkinson’s Network Conference 2022

An important forum for know-how transfer and networking among the regional networks is the Parkinson’s Network Conference, which took place for the third time in 2022. After the events in 2020 and 2021 were held online due to the pandemic, the 2022 conference took place in Berlin in person for the first time. A total of 100 participants attended the event at the Willy Brandt Haus, including physicians, therapists, scientists, and representatives of health insurers and industry.

In keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshops and sponsored symposia, the participants developed solutions for the challenges of Parkinson’s care. One of the topics discussed was the great importance of multi-professional cooperation at eye level, which involves all care providers for Parkinson’s patients. In addition to general practitioners, specialists and clinics, this includes, for example, physiotherapeutic and speech therapy practices, case managers, specialized nursing staff, pharmacies, providers of remedies and aids, and other initiatives such as exercise programs for Parkinson’s disease patients.

Another important point of discussion was also the remuneration of network tasks. “Parkinson’s networks play a decisive role in improving the care of Parkinson’s patients. But network tasks also involves more effort, and this should be remunerated. In the workshop, we discussed intensively how this could be done. A model could be the field of psychiatry, where such services have already become part of standard care,” said co-moderator Sebastian Wachtarz, Director Government Affairs & Public Affairs, AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG.

Download the results report here (German language version).

On behalf of the working group “Networks and Digital Care” we would like to thank the conference sponsors for their support of the event.

Gold sponsor: AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG

Silver sponsors: Esteve Pharmaceuticals GmbH, STADAPHARM GmbH

Bronze sponsors: Abbott Medical GmbH, Bial Deutschland GmbH, Boston Scientific Medizintechnik GmbH, Zambon GmbH

The next Parkinson’s Network Congress is scheduled for December 2-3, 2023.