[Quality management--quo vadis? Perspectives for quality management in hospitals]

Since January 1, 2000 licensed acute care hospitals as well as prevention and rehabilitation hospitals are under legal obligation to implement an internal quality management system. Uncertainty remains, though, about the minimal standards required for these quality systems and which requirements hospitals will have to meet in terms of quality assurance and transparency. The respective provisions of the German Book V of Social Security Code do not define such measures, but leave it to a joint commission of providers and purchasers to agree on fundamental standards and general conditions. This paper aims to outline the development of standards of quality systems for hospitals in the Federal Republic of Germany, considering current trends and tendencies in health care on the basis of legal preconditions, government initiatives and activities of the self-government bodies.