[The German Agency for Quality in Medicine (ÄZQ) 1995-2010: 15 years promotion of evidence-based medicine, patient orientation and patient safety].

The German Agency for Quality in Medicine (ÄZQ) was established as a joint institution of the German Medical Association (BÄK) and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) in 1995. Starting as a small quality assurance co-ordination unit of the German physicians' national self-governmental bodies, ÄZQ has been developed during the last decade into a centre of excellence for clinical practice guidelines, patient information, patient safety, evidence-based medicine, and knowledge management. The article summarises the institution's acitivities over the period of 15 years with respect to its national projects and international collaboration, being a founding member of the Guidelines International Network. In the future ÄZQ's programme priorities will be in the fields of knowledge transfer and implementation of medical decision aids into the daily work of health-care providers.