[Informed decisions: patient and consumer information at the German Agency for Quality in Medicine (ÄZQ)].

The concept of informed decision making does not only comply with the ideals of the self-determining citizen. In politics and society it is more and more understood as an individual obligation. In order to be capable of making competent decisions regarding treatment options, citizens have to be provided with high quality information. With the aim of facilitating patients' and consumers' orientation in health care questions, the German Agency for Quality in Medicine (ÄZQ) has been committed to developing and promoting the use of reliable patient information for more than ten years. ÄZQ's activities are based on four main principles: development of patient versions of high quality clinical practice guidelines; provision of patient information which has been assessed according to its formal quality; provision of information on the German health care system (checklists); further development of quality standards and methods.