[Medical controlling as a means for economic optimization of an anesthesiology clinic]

In these times of declining government financial resources, public interest is focussing increasingly on the health service. The Health Care Reforms of 1993 and 1996 fundamentally changed its financial basis. Hospitals now have to hold their own both medically and more and more economically. In this report, the principles of medical controlling are described and its effects on the clinical routine of a university anaesthesia department. Strict controlling reduces not only the costs of individual fields, but also those of whole departments through coordinated ordering. It can also bring to light organizational and training deficits. It is of particular importance for optimizing an anaesthesia department to digest and comply with figures presented by administrative departments. It only makes sense to do this at a departmental level.