>> The care of diabetes patients in Germany has experienced a profound change in the last fifteen years. While before this point, patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 (T1DM) or type 2 (T2DM) and severe secondary diseases as well as patients with diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) and pregnant patients with pre-existing or gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in university facilities and hospitals or general internal medicine practices, there was a change in specialized care in the mid-1990s: through the establishment of diabetology-focused practices (DSPs), care in these areas of care moved from clinics to office care.
To this day, the definition of a DSP is not uniform: From the normal diabetes practice with a diabetologist and a diabetes consultant to large outpatient diabetes centers with three or more doctors and a considerable staff, there are a wide variety of DSP models. An average DSP cares for around 1,000 diabetes patients per quarter, with a range of 400 to 4,500 patients per quarter (see winDiab 2013 annual report; www.windiab.de).
Until five years ago, little was known about the work and range of services provided by DSPs, as there was neither reliable information on the number of patients nor on the quality of the treatment. The reasons for this are manifold and are, in particular, that:
• academic healthcare research (VSF) pursues scientific goals and topics other than those of interest in research into patient care,
• the patients moved from care level 3 (clinic) to level 2 (DSP), but this was not supported by research,
• There was no structure that could organize independent research at this level.
Founding of winDiab
Through the founding of the scientific institute of practicing diabetology (winDiab) by eleven practicing diabetological doctors in 2008

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