[The project of the Techniker-Krankenkasse: some comments on the results by the project's scientific advisory board]

Abstract

The Project of the Techniker Krankenkasse compared 2 systems of quality assurance in outpatient psychotherapy, the established peer review system based on qualitative individual case reports and a new model based on psychometric assessment and feed-back systems. In this publication the members of the project advisory board comment on the results and limitations of the study. 400 psychotherapists in private practice participated in a cluster-randomized comparison study, 200 were allocated to the intervention group, and 200 to the control group. In both groups assessments were performed at 3 points in time, one at the beginning of treatment, one at the end of treatment and one at follow-up 12 months post-treatment. No significant differences in psychotherapeutic outcome were observed in the 2 groups. The hypothesis of a better outcome associated with the psychometric assessment and benchmarking procedure was not confirmed.