The publisher is the Private Academy of the German Society for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine gGmbH. It is commissioned by the German Society for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine – Society for Surgical, Endovascular and Preventive Vascular Medicine e.V. (DGG), the German Radiological Society e.V. (DRG) and the German Society for Angiology – Society for Vascular Medicine e.V. (DGA).

Parties involved:

• Responsible body: interdisciplinary working group 

• Composition: two members from each professional association (DGG, DRG, DGA)

• Members’ expertise: conducting and evaluating scientific studies/publications, involvement in the development of guidelines, senior position at a certified vascular centre 

• Disclosure of conflicts of interest among working group members

• Involvement of patient organisations in the development of the criteria catalogue: e.g. ‘Gefäßliga’, ‘Deutsche Schlaganfallhilfe’, ‘Marfanhilfe’, ‘Deutsche Diabeteshilfe’ 

Process:

• Annual meeting to review, update and adapt the criteria catalogue, taking into account, among other things,

  • newly published guidelines (AWMF, European/international guidelines)

  • current studies / meta-analyses

  • suggestions from patient organisations

  • current health policy requirements / GBA guidelines / statutory staffing assessment tools

• Voting procedure: simple majority, but with a right of veto for the relevant specialist group regarding subject-specific criteria (e.g. minimum number of operations)

• Publication of the evidence base on the website

Requirements for working as an auditor:

• Participation in training organised by the publisher 

• Experience with the “Certified Vascular Centre” certification system

• Membership of the relevant professional association 

• Disclosure of conflicts of interest and exclusion criteria for auditor assignments:

Criteria:

• Regional considerations: minimum distance of 50 km between the auditor’s own clinic and the clinic to be audited

  • Training centre: no audit at one’s own training clinic

  • Sponsorship: no audit at clinics sponsored by one’s ‘own’ organisation

  • Self-disclosure: Disclosure of personal influencing factors (e.g. family ties, relationships with the pharmaceutical industry and medical device manufacturers)

• Responsible body: Certification Committee

• One representative from each professional association (DGG, DRG, DGA) plus the management of the publisher

• Requirements: experienced vascular physician with a background in vascular medicine, scientific qualification through a PhD, auditors who are not (or no longer) active for this certificate, certification experience, disclosure of conflicts of interest

• Voting procedure: Consensus of the Executive Board and at least the representatives of the ‘applicant’ specialist societies

• Application for certification to the publisher

• Formal consultation, review and approval of the application by the publisher

• Review of the content and approval of the application for audit by the certification committee of the relevant professional association(s): DGG, DRG, DGA

• Audit and preparation of the audit report 

• Decision on awarding certification by the certification committee

• Issuance of the certificate to the certified centre by the publisher