[Health reporting at the community level in Germany: results of a survey]

There is a lack of empirical research on communal health reporting in Germany. The aim of the "Munich Health Reporting Study" was to provide an overview of the spread, topics and data sources of communal health reporting as well as its integration into political decision making processes.

A questionnaire survey was carried out on all German health authorities. The data were transferred into an SAS data set and examined by uni- and bivariate analyses. 223 of 416 health authorities participated in the survey (response 54%). 195 questionnaires could be included in the analysis (analysable response 47%). 79 health authorities took part in the non-responder analysis.

Three-quarters of health authorities undertook health reporting in the past 5 years, half of authorities published at least one report per year. In nearly half of the surveyed authorities health reporting is integrated into multi-institutional planning processes [in two-thirds of cases this takes place in a so-called "Gesundheitskonferenz" (health round table)]. In two-thirds of health authorities health reporting supports the delivery of routine work, in particular the planning of health promotion and prevention campaigns. The main data sources for health reporting are those data routinely available to health authorities. This is reflected in the range of issues covered with child health, immunisations and communicable diseases being the most common topics. The political impact as well as the current role of health reporting is seen sceptically by the majority, whilst its future importance is judged more positive. In their efforts to undertake high quality health reporting, three-quarters of health authorities consider a lack of funding and staff the biggest problems.

These results show that the majority of health authorities ascribe a strategic function to health reporting, which, however, is not yet sufficiently translated into practice. More attention should be paid to the prerequisites and mechanisms of its effective application. Beyond that, the political process into which health reporting is to be integrated, should be modelled more explicitly.