[Hospital comparison--status quo and prospects]

Hospitals are competing with each other for the limited financial resources available in the health care sector. Comparison of hospitals is legally required (BPf1V section 5) to improve financial efficiency in the health care sector and make competition between hospitals keener, while also objectivizing it. If comparison of the hospitals is really to enhance profitability or efficiency, and not just to reduce the prices for hospital stays regardless of quality, it must extend to far more than the global figures in the compilation summarizing performance and calculation and the hospital statistics (no. of cases, days of care, length of stay, case lump sums and special fees). Documentation of particular features of the patient population, the potentials of the hospital and description of the treatment processes yield valuable information on capacity and performance level. With rising costs, the danger is growing that the quality and risk dimension of the actual medical treatment will not be promoted with the same enthusiasm by those offering the service. Hospital audit does not only allow a check on the hospital's own situation with regard to performance, quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction, but can also provide a basis of structural planning. The fact is that all efforts made and steps taken by the responsible persons in the hospital to improve the quality of structures, processes and results can only be successful if they are also perceived by the patients, the doctors who refer them and the visitors. If hospital audit is restricted to the bed occupancy and the invoicing data, it is only realistic to expect cuts in performance level. This would be bad for the patient and, in view of the consequent costs, also for the overall costs in the health care sector. Against the backdrop of a future performance-related system of remuneration instead of the principle of covering one's own costs that has been in place hitherto, openness about treatment results gains in importance as a competition parameter for qualified hospitals.