Helping patients in Germany manage their diseases better

Living with a disease goes far beyond physical hardship. Patients and their families face a number of challenges, including reorganising their lives and dealing with new information, which can be intimidating. To address this, our German subsidiary betapharm has been providing educational patient guidebooks under its betaCare initiative for almost two decades.

Germany has one of the most comprehensive healthcare systems in the world but its complex multi-provider structure — established in 1883 when Otto von Bismarck signed the first Health Insurance Bill — often proves overwhelming. Finding the right information can be frustrating, especially in a situation when people are confronted with news that may suddenly turn their lives upside down. The uncertainty about financial and treatment support as well as handling upcoming decisions weighs heavily on the shoulders of patients and their relatives.

This is where the betaCare guidebooks come in. They provide easy-to-understand answers to important questions, with prime focus on legal issues relating to pain, neurological and oncological diseases, and elderly patients and their needs.  

Among the strongest supporters of the guidebooks are physicians. “Relatives often ask me about the different kinds of nursing available, but I don’t know all this legislation myself, and it changes every year,” says one doctor. “The guidebooks give me really meaningful support. They are so valuable that we even put our stamp on them and lend them to patients!”

The content in the betaCare guidebooks comes from the beta Institut, an independent organisation with a holistic approach to healthcare. Herbert Heynck, General Manager of betapharm, says, “The team in the beta Institut takes meticulous care to ensure the content is up to date, keeps pace with ever-changing regulations and — thanks to their professional research tool betanet — always answers the most demanding questions related to a specific healthcare issue.”

With about 16,000 visitors daily, www.betanet.de is the most comprehensive database on social law issues, enabling targeted professional research in Germany. For example, when the initial Covid-19 cases were reported in Germany, the team acted quickly. Within a few days, they put together practical tips on social security, well-being, stress/anxiety management, impact on home care, patient advanced directive, etc.

In 2020, betapharm distributed more than 80,000 betaCare guidebooks across different therapeutic areas to help patients manage their diseases better. And while these books are intended to provide information only, they’re just one instance of our all-round approach towards Good Health Can’t Wait.

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