Why we exist – and why we are important
The story behind Leading Medicine Guide

If you are looking for a first-class specialist today, you will quickly find exactly the right specialist: The online portal Leading Medicine Guide is dedicated exactly to this goal. This makes the medical world more transparent - and patients and their relatives can contact the doctor who specializes in the disease they are looking for with just a few clicks. It has never been so easy to get straight to the right doctor!

The medical world has become much more transparent in recent years. We at the Deutscher Verlag für Gesundheitsinformation are proud to have contributed to this. That was exactly our goal: We have set out to make it possible for people to find the right specialists for their complaints and illnesses without great effort, costs and hurdles.

About twenty years ago the situation was completely different. There was no independent, well-founded and comprehensive information on specialists and clinics. There was not even basic health information that would have clarified the situation - certainly not online. Certainly not free of charge.

The big plus: patient safety

This was the starting point from which Leading Medicine Guide emerged: shortly after the turn of the millennium, a few committed pioneers with clinical experience set out to significantly improve the situation. The vision soon went beyond providing patients with comprehensive health information. We realized that if we made sure that people didn't have to rely on hearsay to find a doctor or on dodgy evaluation portals, then we would provide those affected with an enormous amount of security. We create a level of patient safety that has never been seen before in German-speaking countries.

However, it was not only patients who were to benefit from the completely new transparency in the medical world. At the same time, we were also able to provide the really good specialists with first-class advantages: Finally, the passionate specialists had a platform on which they could be seen!

The beginning: Trend-setting reference works

It's been a long road. When we founded the Deutscher Verlag für Gesundheitsinformation in 2001, we first caused a stir with our books. There were mainly three indication-related titles with which we informed patients in a previously unheard of way: "The German Clinic Guide for Breast Cancer", "The German Clinic Guide for Cancer" and "The German Cardiovascular Guide" were perceived as what they were: trend-setting reference books that enabled a new perspective on doctors and clinics. Finally, there was something on the healthcare market that seemed hardly imaginable: public transparency.

The success of our publications gave us courage. This is how we recognized: In the course of digitalization, it is important to provide patients with broad information via an online portal. So we founded a platform - the Medführer. Here, too, success soon set in, and soon the "medfuehrer" was referred to as the "online edition of the Yellow Pages of Doctor and Clinic Search" - a commendation that further spurred us on.

First online platform launched

What was still missing was the direct connection between patients and specialists. So we took the next bold step: we wanted to give patients the best recommendations that could be made. That's why we ourselves went in search of proven specialists who would meet their patients with passion, commitment and empathy.

We set the admission criteria so high that they could really only be fulfilled by proven specialists. And we had each potential member thoroughly examined by a specially convened panel of experts. After all, we owed it to our own vision: only highly qualified specialists for the respective focus areas should be brought together on our exclusive portal - and that far beyond national borders. In addition, we created high-quality medical texts in order to provide patients with the best possible information about diseases and complaints - freely accessible. It was the year 2009: Leading Medicine Guide was born.

Continually optimized: Specialist network with transparency

Right from the start, we were committed to our mission of ensuring the highest possible level of transparency in the healthcare market. We therefore attached great importance to ensuring that the qualifications of all physicians were quickly and easily comprehensible - even if the range of diagnostic and therapeutic services was so extensive.

There are several reasons why the criteria for admitting medical specialists are so high. It is not only medical criteria that have to be fulfilled: Exceptional specialists possess not only above-average specialist knowledge but also imagination, skill and a high degree of empathy. Only then medical excellence is possible. And only then it is ensured that patients feel completely comfortable and safe. Exactly: Only then are the specialists good enough for Leading Medicine Guide.

Finally at the doctor of your choice

Today we are further ahead - but not at our destination. But this is an integral part of our mission: Even though we have already achieved a lot with the Leading Medicine Guide, even though numerous people have ended up at their doctor of choice through us and have been able to benefit from our ideas - there is still a lot to do.

And it's going to stay that way. In September 2019, when the World Health Organization (WHO) announced its figures, we were once again confirmed: The Leading Medicine Guide is still very much needed. Because in Germany 19,000 people still die every year in "avoidable incidents". In Austria there are 1,900 deaths per year, in Switzerland around a thousand. As sad as these figures are: They prove how important our work is.

Innovation: Detailed in-depth search

What makes Leading Medicine Guide so special today is an absolute innovation: Finally, we have succeeded in making possible a previously unknown in-depth search that offers patients maximum safety. Now the specializations in which the certified physicians have a high level of expertise are listed in detail!

For the creators of the Leading Medicine Guide, the in-depth search was a great dream come true: Specialists in certain medical topics are provided with patients with whom they can prove their special skills - for which they have completed lengthy and complex additional training courses. Finally, the outstanding specialists can treat the patients whom they can help best: They will be transformed from an insider tip into a specialist visible from afar!

With the Leading Medicine Guide, we continue on our path - in the interests of patients as well as specialists. We want to continue to promote quality and transparency in medicine. We would like to continue to provide information - for example, with comprehensive health information that provides basic medical knowledge in a comprehensible way and refers to current events and research results.

So that patients can really feel safe, we will continue to rely on the active support of first-class specialists in all our activities in the future. Because it is precisely these genuine doctors who stand for our goals - they enable the patient safety that so many people want. And that they deserve. For this we say: Thank you very much. To doctors and patients.

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