The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG^b) is an establishment of the Foundation for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care. IQWiG is a professionally independent scientific institute. Information on the structure and organization of the Foundation and the Institute is available on the website www.iqwig.de.

The General Methods explain the legal and scientific basis of the Institute. Its tasks are described in this document, as are the scientific tools applied in the preparation of its products. Hence the Institute's methods paper provides an important contribution towards transparency in the Institute's mode of operation.

The General Methods are primarily directed at researchers. In order to make the information on the Institute's mode of operation accessible to as many interested persons as possible, the authors have aimed to produce a comprehensible document. However, as with any scientific text, a certain level of prior knowledge on the topic is assumed.

The General Methods aim to describe the Institute's procedures in a general manner. What specific individual steps the Institute undertakes in the assessment of specific medical interventions depend, among other things, on the research question posed and the available scientific evidence. The General Methods should therefore be regarded as a kind of framework. How the assessment process is designed in individual cases is presented in detail for each specific project.

The Institute's methods are usually reviewed annually with regard to any necessary revisions, unless errors in the document or relevant developments necessitate prior updating. Project-specific methods are defined on the basis of the methods version valid at that time. If changes are made to the general methodological procedures during the course of a project, then it will be assessed whether project-specific procedures need to be modified accordingly. In order to continuously further develop and improve its mode of operation, the Institute presents its General Methods for public discussion. This applies to the currently valid version, as well as to drafts of future versions.