The German Cancer Society Certification System Benefits And Further Development

Background Since its beginnings in 2003, the certification system of the German Cancer Society (Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft, DKG) has developed into the authoritative quality assurance initiative in oncology. Objectives Based on experience of recent years, the benefits and further development potential of the certification system are to be demonstrated. Conclusions The principle of continuous quality improvement applies both to the certification system itself and to the certified centres. The data collected over many years from the certified centres provide extensive insights into the development of oncology care structures in Germany. Up to now, instruments for systematic risk adjustment and integration of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) have been lacking. The efforts of the centres associated with certification (e.g. for documentation) have hardly been financially rewarded so far. The considerable effort for the centres in the service of treatment quality should be taken more into account by policy-makers and payers.