[Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number and duration of care counselling provided by outpatient care services].

Background: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the German legislator has changed the framework conditions for care counselling (provided mainly by outpatient care services) in the German long-term care insurance (§ 37 (3) SGB XI). The care counselling no longer has to be provided in the home of the patients but is also possible by telephone or online. In 2020, the existing obligation for family members and other informal caregivers to make use of a care counselling service was suspended for a few months.

Aim: The aim of this study was first of all to describe the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number and duration of care counselling by outpatient care services in Bavaria, Germany. Particular attention was paid to the following question: what impact did the suspension of the obligation to make use of care counselling have on the utilization of care counselling?

Method: Secondary analysis of more than 43,000 data sets of the BARMER Nursing Insurance in Bavaria. Evaluation primarily by means of time series analyses and other descriptive statistics. In addition, the correlation between the weekly number of care counselling consultations and the cases of COVID-19 in Bavaria was calculated.

Results: At the end of March and in April 2020 the number of consultations decreased by nearly 80% compared to February 2020. The concern about contagion with SARS-CoV-2 was crucial to this slump in the number of counselling visits; however, the reduction was also made possible by the suspension of the obligation to provide care counselling, which was decided on 27 March 2020. The suspension of the obligation to provide advice alone led to a decrease of between 44% and 49% in Bavaria. The available data also indicate that telephone consultations are shorter than face-to-face consultations.

Conclusion: The available data suggest that only about half of the care consultations would be used by users if the obligation to make use of care counselling-as laid down in § 37 (3) SGB XI-were permanently eliminated. In addition, they contain clear indications that remuneration after time (as practised in Bavaria) has led to an extension of the consultation times.