Ortsnahe Koordinierung der gesundheitlichen Versorgung in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Zwischenbilanz des nordrhein-westfälischen Modells

In January 1998, the Public Health Service Act (ÖGDG) was put into force by North Rhine-Westphalia's state parliament as Article 3 of the Act on the Strengthening of the Efficiency of Districts, Cities and Municipalities. The objective of the Public Health Service Act is the performance of functions through the public health service in a way which corresponds to problems, ambitions and priorities at the local level. The effects of the Act have been documented over a period of 5 years. The authors describe the method of evaluation and the most important results. As well as describing traditional tasks, they focus in particular on process and structural data of the local health conferences. These have been introduced as a consequence of the Public Health Service Act in all 54 districts and self-administered cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. Another task which has become obligatory as a result of the Public Health Service Act is health reporting. Here, the authors report on the state of affairs with regard to implementation, major topics and differences in concept. Based on the state of development at the end of 2002, the authors describe present developments and prospects. They expect continuous need for support, particularly in the fields of health conferences and health reporting.