[Patient experience as the key to patient-centred healthcare]

Patient-centred care means aligning medical services not only with clinical standards, but also with the needs and preferences of patients. Quality assurance in the healthcare sector aims to ensure this. Surveys play a central role in capturing, reflecting and understanding patients' experiences and needs in order to promote patient-centred care.Since 2016, the Institute for Quality Assurance and Transparency (IQTIG) has been developing patient surveys as an element of quality assurance programmes in the German healthcare system on behalf of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA). Throughout the development of patient surveys for seven diagnosis-/indication-specific quality assurance programmes, the following overarching core topics could be identified: communication and interaction with patients, involvement in decision-making and patient's preferences, continuity of care and aftercare, information and education, patient-reported safety and treatment outcome.Furthermore, the IQTIG integrated the concept of shared decision-making (SDM) as a key component of patient-centred care in its survey instruments. To operationalize the quality requirements, the IQTIG pursues a fact-based survey approach and uses patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). The analysis of this data provides important insights into care deficits and areas for improvement especially for healthcare providers and promotes transparency in the healthcare system.