[Quality Indicators Show Higher Fulfilment in Centers Certified by the German Cancer Society]

In 2003, a certification program was introduced by the German Cancer Society in Germany to ensure high standards of oncological care. The present study investigated whether there were differences in the concordance to guideline-based recommendations between centers certified by the German Cancer Society and medical facilities without such certification. In this context, quality indicators derived from clinical guidelines were evaluated.

The database of the cancer registry of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany was used to calculate fulfilment of target values for 14 quality indicators. Analysis of quality indicators followed specifications given in treatment S3-guidelines for breast, colorectal and lung cancer. Analyses were done by R and SAS.

All 14 quality indicators showed that concordance with guideline-based recommendations was higher in certified centers compared to uncertified medical facilities; 13 of these differences were statistically significant.

Higher quality of oncological treatment in certified centers has widely been discussed in the WiZen study. The results of our study support this assumption with respect to concordance with quality indicators.