Table 1 Implementation strategies

Consensus discussions

Involvement of representatives of all stakeholders (hospitals, general practitioners, health insurers, patients) in the development of the intervention components with the aim of reaching consensus.

Formal commitments

Adaptability was promoted in terms of integrating the intervention components into the hospitals; hospitals had to describe this in a formal commitment form.

Change of record system

The intervention components in general practices were supported by a software tool called “CareCockpit”, which had already been used previously for general practice-based case management.

Train-the-trainer

General practice staff were trained in the use of the CareCockpit software and study measures by teams of trainers who were themselves trained by the study central office.

Educational materials

Hospitals and general practices received educational material on the intervention components and study conduction, such as investigator site files or video tutorials.

Ongoing consultation

General practices and hospitals were continuously supported in the implementation of the intervention by the study central office through updates by mail and post, telephone calls and refresher training for general practices.

Provision of feedback

The hospitals and general practices were offered feedback in the form of three benchmarking reports and feedback meetings in the form of workshops, which included first results from the evaluations.

Financial incentives

Incentives were created for service providers in that they received fee-for-fee remuneration for the provision of the intervention components.