[Impact of increasing half positions in psychotherapy practices on the capacity of providing care].

Background: The division of practice licenses into two half positions has increased significantly, particularly in psychotherapeutic care mandates. So far, there has been no systematic investigation into the impact of dividing these statutory health insurance seats on care capacities. Methods: An anonymous survey was conducted among 132 psychotherapeutic practices in Berlin. The weekly number of patient treatment hours was recorded, categorized into consultation hours, acute therapy, and guideline-based psychotherapy. Practices holding full licenses were compared with those operating under half licenses. Results: A total of 40 practices with full licenses and 92 practices with half licenses participated in the study. Practices operating with two half licenses provided an average of 43.0 (SD=10.4) treatment hours per week, compared to 27.2 (SD=8.8) hours per week in practices with a full license - representing a 57% increase. When broken down by service type, practices with two half licenses offered 104% more consultation hours, 91% more acute therapy hours, and 60% more hours of guideline-based psychotherapy per week than full-license practices. Conclusion: The convergence of individual interests of practice owners, the difficulty in obtaining a license for providing care, and the increasing demand for psychotherapeutic services is leading, through the growing division of care mandates, to additional psychotherapeutic capacities that contribute to ensuring the provision of psychotherapeutic care.