HOPAN

Hospice work and palliative care are characterized by the cooperation of a large number of care actors such as physicians in private practice, hospitals, outpatient nursing services, nursing homes, hospices, pharmacies and chaplains. Depending on individual needs, they networked to maintain and improve the quality of life of patients and their relatives. The coordination of these care networks is an important task in both outpatient and inpatient care. It enables necessary treatment decisions to be made taking into account all relevant perspectives, the distribution of tasks to be coordinated and continuous care to be ensured with as little loss of information and friction as possible between those involved.

Since April 2022, the coordination of regional hospice and palliative care networks has been eligible for funding from the statutory health insurance funds and substitute health insurance funds in every district and independent city. However, there is no nationwide overview of existing hospice and palliative care networks or criteria or instruments for assessing the quality of these networks.

Objectives

1. To determine the existence of regional hospice and palliative care networks in Germany
2. To analyze regional hospice and palliative care networks using a quality assessment tool
3. Development of level-specific recommendations for the further development of regional hospice and palliative care networks and evaluation of the usefulness of the recommendations

The project results should improve the work and structure of the approximately 400 existing and eligible networks in Germany and thus have an indirect beneficial effect on the quality of life of patients with hospice and palliative care needs and their relatives.

Funding

The project is funded by the Innovation Fund at the Joint Federal Committee for the area of health services research (funding reference 01VSF22042). The funding period runs from 01.01.2023 to 30.09.2025.

Consortium and cooperation partners

• Prof. Dr. Christoph Buck, Augsburg University of Applied Sciences
• Coordination office for hospice and palliative care in Germany
• German Society for Palliative Medicine (DGP)
• German Hospice and Palliative Care Association (DHPV)

flyer

Flyer on the HOPAN research project.

Publications

Röwer HAA, Herbst FA, Schwabe S. Structural characteristics of regional hospice and palliative care networks in Germany: results of an online survey. Journal of Palliative Medicine 2025 (EFirst), DOI: 10.1055/a-2543-3777

Schwabe S, Röwer HAA, Herbst FA. Challenges and good practices of regional hospice and palliative care networks in Germany: results of an online survey. Healthcare 2025 (EFirst). DOI: 10.1055/a-2452-9723

Schwabe S, Röwer HA, Buck C, Doctor E, Schneider N, Herbst FA. Challenges of regional hospice and palliative care networks: A group discussion study with coordinators and network experts. Palliative Medicine 2025;39(2): 256-265. doi:10.1177/02692163241303281

Röwer H, Herbst F, Schwabe S. Regional hospice and palliative care networks worldwide: scoping review. BMJ supportive & palliative care. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1136/spcare-2024-004974

Doctor E, Hennrich J, Schwabe S, Röwer H, Eymann T, Buck C. Reconsidering the Promise of Digital Transformation - Navigating Maturity in Heterogeneous End-of-Life Care Networks. ECIS 2024 Proceedings. 2024; 1. https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2024/track01_peoplefirst/track01_peoplefirst/1

Schwabe S, Röwer H. Regional hospice and palliative care networks: effectiveness, promotion and coordination. The Hospice Journal. 2023; 26(1): 6-10

Röwer H, Buck C, Doctor E, Herbst F, Schleef T, Schneider N, Schwabe N. HOPAN - A project to survey and analyze regional hospice and palliative care networks using an adapted quality assessment tool. Federal Hospice Gazette. 2023; 21(2): 16-17

Schwabe S, Buck C, Herbst FA, Schleef T, Stiel S, Schneider N. Status exploration and analysis of regional hospice and palliative care networks in Germany: A protocol for a mixed-methods study. PLoS One 2023;18(6): e0286583(PLoS One)

Schwabe S, Röwer H, Kamandi N, Doctor E, Buck C, Schneider N. Identification of regional hospice and palliative care networks in Germany - results of a multi-method survey. Z Evid Fortbild Qual Gesundhwes 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.zefq.2023.10.001(ZEFQ)

HOPAN - Contact

hopan@mh-hannover.de

Contact persons

Dr. Sven Schwabe (Project Management)

• Phone: +49 511 532-8599

Franziska Kirchmann (Research assistant)

• Phone: +49 511 532-8599

Nilab Kamandi (student assistant)

Contact address

Hannover Medical School

Institute ofGeneral Medicine and Palliative Medicine

Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1

30625 Hanover