Article
Comparison of Certified and Non-Certified Institutions with Respect to Fulfillment of Quality Indicators – an Investigation of the Cancer Registry of Rhineland-Palatinate in the IDG
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Authors
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Stefanie Schulz
- Drs. Schulz Oncological Practice, Bad Kreuznach, Germany
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Hans-Christian Lange
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Katharina Emrich
- IDG Institut für digitale Gesundheitsdaten RLP gGmbH, Mainz, Germany
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Christina Justenhoven
- IDG Institut für digitale Gesundheitsdaten RLP gGmbH, Mainz, Germany
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Fabian Reinwald
- IDG Institut für digitale Gesundheitsdaten RLP gGmbH, Mainz, Germany
| Published: | September 6, 2024 |
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Outline
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Background: Publication of the results of the study Effectiveness of Care in Certified Cancer Centers (WiZen) initiated a debate about quality of treatment in centers certified by the German Cancer Society (Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft, DKG) vs. non-certified institutions. We aimed to gain more information on this subject in Rhineland-Palatinate and conducted a comparison based on quality indicators (QIs) of current S3 guidelines.
Methods: Our investigation was based on data of the cancer registry of Rhineland-Palatinate. Patients diagnosed with breast, lung or colorectal cancer in the years 2016 to 2023 were included. 14 QIs for these types of cancer were chosen according to their calculability with respect to available data in the context of cancer registration in Germany. The binomial test was used to test the hypothesis that QIs are higher in certified centers than in non-certified centers. Statistical analyses were done by SAS and R.
Results: The level of compliance of all analyzed QIs was higher in certified centers compared to non-certified institutions. For 13 of the analyzed 14 QIs the observed difference was statistical significance (p<0.05).
Discussion: Our results are in line with the assumption that treatment in certified centers meet the recommendations of S3 guidelines more often than in institutions without certificate. One reasons for higher adherence to guidelines could be a better management of the patients due to a multidisciplinary team including tumor boards.
Conclusion: First results of a QI-based comparison in Rhineland-Palatinate suggest better compliance to S3 guidelines in centers certified by the German Cancer Society vs. institutions without certificate.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
The authors declare that an ethics committee vote is not required.
