title: [Internet-based Report Cards for Hospital Choice Making in Germany: A Clinical Area-focused Perspective].
abstract: Objectives:Aims of this study are to provide (i) a presentation of quality of care information about German hospitals on internet report cards, and (ii) derive a guidance tool for using certain report cards.Methods:We undertook (i) a systematic internet search to identify hospital report cards, (ii) whereby several inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, (iii) We developed a scheme to describe the presented quality information, (iv) We also analysed the report cards and (v) evaluated the results and derived further usage guidance.Results:18 report cards were included. 8 report cards present nationwide quality information while ten report cards focus on regional areas. The AOK Krankenhaus-navigator provides the most information about 5 clinical areas of the external quality assurance (§ 137 SGB V). Regarding the remaining 26 clinical areas, the TK Klinikführer, the Barmer Krankenhausnavi, and the Weisse Liste provide the largest amount of quality information. Qualitätskliniken.de reports on 9, the Klinikführer Rheinland on 8, the Bremer Krankenhausspiegel on 4, and the Hamburger Krankenhausspiegel on 2 additional clinical areas.Conclusions:This study shows that a differentiated view for each clinical area is necessary when searching for information about the quality of hospitals. Further studies should assess the quality of the report cards as well as the information that they display.
authors.affiliation: Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Institut für Management (IFM), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Emmert
authors.affiliation: Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Institut für Management (IFM), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Meszmer
authors.affiliation: Fakultät Wirtschaft, Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.affiliation: Information un Kommunikation, Hochschule Hannover , Hannover.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sander
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005858:Germany; D006761:Hospitals / Q000145:classification*; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards*