Agency for Quality in Medicine, AQUMED

The Agency for Quality in Medicine (AQUMED, http://www.aezq.de/english/english/view [1]) was founded as a joint institution of the German Medical Association (GMA) and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (NASHIP).

Tasks of AQUMED are consultation and appropriate support of GMA and NASHIP according to their legal and professional tasks within the medical profession and services. The activities' main emphasis is laid on planning, preparation and execution of GMA-and NASHIP-decisions.

AQUMED takes special care in:

• the preparation for recommendations of GMA and NASHIP concerning the assurance of structural-, procedure- and result-quality in the medical profession

• the support of the State Medical Associations and the State Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians concerning the execution of quality-assurance-progress

• the organisation of common advisory committees

• the assessment and preparation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the medical profession in ambulatory and hospital care the support and preparation of standardization within National or European Institutions

• operation of the German Guideline Clearinghouse as a joint institution of GMA, NASHIP in partnership with the German Hospital Association and the Statutory Pension Insurance.

For the time being AQUMED is organising several national expert committees (e.g)

• Task force on patient safety

• Expert panel on Quality and performance indicators

AQUMED is a Founder Member of the Guidelines International Network G-I-N. In the last years AQUMED has established the following international and national collaborations: AWMF (German Association of the Scientific Medical Societies), Biomed-AGREE-Project, DISCERN-Project, EbM Network, Europarat - Council of Europe, MedCIRCLE (Collaboration for Internet Rating, Certification, Labeling and Evaluation of Health Information), National Guideline Clearinghouse, USA (NGC), ProGuide-Project, Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network, UK (SIGN), forumQ.at, Health Sector Management Project/Republic of Slovenia , Journal of Further Medical Education and Quality Assurance.

Aiming at enforcement of patient orientation, as well as coordination of clinical practice guidelines and consumer information, AQUMED started the project “German Clearinghouse for Patient Information - GCPI” - in cooperation with the German Cochrane Centre, the Medical University of Hanover, Department of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Public Health Research and other partners, in 1999. Since 2024 AQUMED is acknowledged by the German Health Insurances as an official advisory board for consumers and patients.