Experiences with quality management in an international context : report on a WHO workshop, Germany, 15-17 January 1998

Abstract

The German Bundesministerium for Gesundheit called for the workshop to exchange and examine experiences with quality management in an international context. The main topics to be discussed/presented were: national strategies for implementation of quality management in Europe : needs, contents and overview; discussion of specific aspects of quality management, e.g. costs, economics, evaluation, hospital; certification or accreditation systems from the view of health care providers, patients and other health care customers, health care financiers and sickness funds; models and tools of quality management systems, e.g. benchmarking, information systems; guidelines for cost effectiveness evaluations in quality management. A main topic of discussion was the cost consequences of applied quality management. A specific objective of the meeting was to generate a list of specific aspects of quality management that could be used by hospitals and small multi-professional groups