title: [Hospital quality management in Germany].
abstract: Hospital quality management (QM) is a legal obligation in Germany. This article reviews the regulations of quality control, the basic principles of QM, specific quality techniques, the process of QM implementation in the hospital and the possibilities of external QM certifications. Due to the increasing and effective privatisation of hospitals in Germany, careful attention to specially designed QM systems for private hospitals seems to be reasonable.
authors.affiliation: Klinik und Poliklinik für Augenheilkunde, Universität Regensburg. carsten.framme@klinik.uniregensburg.de
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Framme
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Kahla-Witzsch