[Inter-hospital competition--from a medical director's perspective].

On the basis of a model calculation the Federal Statistical Office--despite a decreasing overall population--predicts a rise in the number of patients requiring inpatient healthcare of approximately 12% because of the ageing of our society. The comparative publication of data about the range, the character, the quality and the success of medical treatment allows more transparency of the medical achievements of a hospital, and the patients have learned to expect a high quality of medical treatment and its outcomes. Therefore hospitals have to find ways to present themselves to the patient as a suitable and desirable institution. In the inter-hospital competition for patients an individual hospital can only be successful by recruiting excellent professional (both medical and nursing) staff. Hospitals seeking to secure their existence will have to develop strategies that allow them to succeed in the competition for patients and staff. This includes a verifiably high quality of their medical treatment while striving for an efficient way of managing the costs. At the same time a realistic approach to the recruitment and motivation of the medical staff is essential, which is especially true of physicians.