[Third level centers in Integrated Health Care: no room, no interest, no needs?]

Third level health care providers are often highly integrated in the sense that they provide a broad variety of medical specialties. They mostly lack cooperative structures with physicians who are running private practices. By this "isolation", they realize disadvantages in the race for more patients. This is one reason why more university teaching hospitals are growingly interested in contracts for Integrated Health Care. Another field of growing needs for cooperative structures is rehabilitation to ensure achieved therapeutic success especially in highly specialized centers. The paper outlines these growing interests but also formulates preconditions for contracts which should be regarded if university hospitals are to become involved in Integrated Health Care.