[Medical care data as the basis for evidence-based health care politics]

The importance of data and statistics to support the political and tactical goals of the professional medical associations is constantly growing. Statements about the real medical care situation, including investments, operational expenses, use of labor and (medical) effectiveness, economic validity etc., should be reinforced by data and real-world evidence. More and more, in future arguments about the development of medical care, the party with the better data will prevail. That is why the umbrella organization of the medical specialists' professional associations SpiFa-Spitzenverband Fachärzte Deutschlands e. V.-has decided accept the challenge by founding DIFA-Deutsches Institut für Fachärztliche Versorgungsforschung (German institute for the pursuit of health economics and health care research). By collecting the regular data that the physicians generate in their daily medical practice and providing ways to analyze and evaluate these data statistically, DIFA is building an important foundation to strengthen the authority and power of the professional associations: pushing towards an evidence- (as opposed to 'eminence'-) based health care politics.