[The well-informed patient from the statutory health insurance standpoint].

By introducing competition into the statutory health insurance system the model of the informed patient has obtained new importance. As corporations of public law,more than 350 statutory health insurance funds (SHI funds) fulfil original tasks of in-forming and counselling patients. Although the SHI funds lack incentives for more patient orientation due to an inadequate risk equalization scheme, the SHI funds are extending their competences to support health consumer protection. On the one hand, attractive offers for information and counselling are being regarded as an important competitive field in the framework of the respective corporate strategy. On the other hand, the SHI funds are highly interested in having well-informed patients assume personal responsibility and through their well-directed demands contribute to more quality and efficiency in the healthcare system. Which objective need for in-formation does the population still have?What are the effects of medical lay knowledge on the communication between doc-tor and patient? From the SHI funds' point of view, however, there are many relevant questions still unsolved. Therefore, they consider health care research desirable to help them make user-oriented information avail-able for different target groups.