[Rehabilitation and outpatient physiotherapy in rheumatic disease patients. Results of cross-sectional studies of patients with rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatologists].

Rehabilitation and outpatient physiotherapy were investigated from the perspectives of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and of rheumatologists. In 2007, 204 outpatients with RA and 47 with AS at the Arthritis Center in Halle, Germany, and 117 rheumatologists from all over the country participated in two questionnaire surveys. Patients and rheumatologists gave predominantly positive judgements of physiotherapy, psychological interventions, and patient education programs. However, outpatient care including these interventions was judged to be mainly limited by fixed budgets and other formal restrictions. Even though these therapeutic options are part of (primarily inpatient) rehabilitation programs, the estimate of the need for multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs varied widely among the rheumatologists. Significant objections against rehabilitation include reluctance of the patients, administrative burden for the physicians, payers' rejections, and limited choice of rehabilitation clinic. Despite major functional limitations, a substantial portion of the patients received no multidisciplinary medical rehabilitation, outpatient physiotherapy, psychological interventions, or patient education. Recommendations for the improvement of care are derived from these data.