Innovationsausschuss des Gemeinsamen Bundesausschusses (G-BA) fördert neue und alte DEGAM-Leitlinien

Background: Practice guidelines are an important instrument for quality improvement – also in primary care. For years, members of the German College of General Practice and Family Medicine (DEGAM) have developed methodologically ambitious guidelines for family physicians or have been involved in the development of interdisciplinary guidelines mostly on a voluntary basis. Since 2020, the Innovation Committee of the German Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) has announced funding programs for the (further) development of guidelines. Objectives: This publication intends to present DEGAM guideline projects currently funded by the Innovation Committee of the G‑BA. Materials and methods: The concepts of the funded guidelines are briefly described by the authors. Results: In the second round of the G‑BA’s call for proposals for the funding of practice guidelines (in 2021), five author teams of DEGAM guidelines applied and received funding. The funded DEGAM guideline projects include (a) the development of a new guideline, (b) the update of two existing guidelines, and (c) the update and upgrading of an existing DEGAM guideline from S1 to S3 level, as well as the update of an S3 guideline as a living guideline. Conclusions: Guideline development is resource-intensive and requires voluntary commitment. The G‑BA funding opens up opportunities for DEGAM to (further) develop guidelines that would otherwise not have been developed at all or not as upgrades. In order to advance guideline programs, additional funding is needed, since the resources of voluntary guideline authors are limited. The G‑BA funding also supports the recruitment of young researchers for guideline development in the medium term. The extent to which this G‑BA support is sustainable will be proven in the future.