Mission and Objectives

The voice of Germany’s hospitals

The German Hospital Federation is the federation of national and state associations of hospital owners. It supports its members in fulfilling their tasks in the hospital sector.

Mandate and Organisation of the German Hospital Federation

The German Hospital Federation (DKG – Deutsche Krankenhausgesellschaft e.V.) is the representative organ of all German hospitals. It bundles and advocates their interests regardless of the kind of ownership. Public, private for profit and private not for profit or charity-based hospital owners are organised in the DKG through its member organisations: 16 associations on the federal state level are providing special services to the hospitals in their region, e.g. negotiating hospital plans and prices. The other type of members are the twelve national associations, dedicated to each type of ownership who bundle the special interests of their hospitals. On this broad basis, DKG represents the whole range of interests of the providers of hospital care.

Since its foundation in 1949, DKG established itself as a trusted representative of hospital interests and is itself a private not for profit organisation. DKG is not only a key player in German healthcare politics but also got and gets provided with a continuously growing list of responsibilities with regard to the principle of self-governance, inherent to the national healthcare system. In addition to its political and administrative responsibilities, DKG is dedicated to maintaining public dialogue on hospital policy, the exchange of knowledge and the support of scientific research, also cross border and on international level.

At European and international level, DKG represents Germany’s hospitals in the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE) and in the International Hospital Federation (IHF).

At its headquarters in Berlin, more than 100 employees work in the Federation’s divisions on all issues involving the hospital sector. Topics include hospital finance, hospital staff, data processing, quality management and legal as well as medical questions. The analysis of ongoing health policy developments and public relations activities are also among the DKG’s central tasks. With its monthly journal “Das Krankenhaus”, the federation publishes one of the most important specialists’ periodicals in Germany’s hospital sector.

Voice of Germany’s Hospitals in Politics and Administration

The German represents the entire hospital sector in all health policy decisions on national and on EU level. It is a partner to policy makers, political and administrative institutions, stakeholder associations and researchers.

DKG is one of the leading actors in the country’s system of “self-governance” in the healthcare sector and is member of the “Federal Joint Committee” (“GBA - Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss”). This legal body is responsible for basic and binding decisions on measures that shape the provision of inpatient and outpatient medical services. Together with its partners representing the other parties in the self-governance institutions – statutory health insurers, medical associations and nursing associations – it decides on all topics of relevance to the hospital sector. E.g. the implementation of the German system of diagnosis related groups (G-DRG) for the reimbursement of hospital services as well as hospital quality assurance measures are determined to a considerable extent by DKG in cooperation with its fellow members.