[Quality assurance in heart surgery in Germany. Development, current status and outlook]

In a multicenter pilot study and with the support of the German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology, a commission of the German Association for Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery developed a procedure for cardiosurgical quality assurance. After concluding the pilot phase, the data were reduced for general practicability to the essential characteristics and now comprise 205 items. After a cooperation contract between funding agents, the German Hospital Association, The German Federal Hospital Association and the German Association for Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery, The Federal Working Group on Cardiosurgical Quality Assurance was founded. Under supervision of a federal board, the practical work is performed in a project office, which works closely together with a board of cardio-surgeons. The quality assurance comprises almost all cardiac surgery performed on adults. The data collected in the hospitals are drawn by the office into comparative statistics that allow judgement of the quality.