Patients report in general to be dissatisfied with headache treatment. A disease management program was developed to improve the quality of headache treatment of a general sickfund-insured population. METHOD: 1946 employees at a ship-building site and their families were asked to fill in questionnaires if they suffer from headache: the Short-Form 36, the Kiel Headache Questionnaire and some additional items to document medication and satisfaction with general therapy. General information on management and prevention of headache was offered to the 341 respondents suffering from headache, physicians and pharmacists. In a second survey questionnaires were filed to the participants to record the impact of the program. RESULTS: Results from the first survey were reported by Göbel et al. (Cephalalgia 17 (1997) p325-236). 68.9% of the 183 traceable initial respondents took part in the final survey. 29.1% of the participants reported an improvement in health status, 43.1% stated fewer headaches, 38.9% reported shorter headache attacks, 22.6% had better knowledge to identify trigger factors, 21.0% reduced their consumption of medication and 41.9% learned an active relaxation technique. Together with other extensive health-care measures initiated through the company, there was a reduction of lost labour time due to illness. CONCLUSION: It is possible to create a network between physicians, pharmacists, sickfund, employees and the pharmaceutical industry to successfully address the question of headache management withing a work-site environment. Unmet medical needs can be identified and awareness for intervention programs can be raised through studies using general headache questionnaires. The information of patients as well as physicians and pharmacists reduced the burden of headache and improved the outcomes of headache treatment. More collaborative efforts to improve the unsatisfactory situation of headache patients and migraine patients is needed.