In autumn 2005, the Geriatric and Gerontological Scientific Societies together with the Organisation of Geriatric Departments developed a quality seal in a discussion process over about 18 months. The needs to be addressed were corporate development, allocation through an independent and external institution for quality management, consideration of the heterogeneous German structure of geriatric medicine, independence of specific conditions and the consideration of 20 years of geriatric medicine practise in Germany. The seal is specific for geriatric medicine and assumes successful certification in general quality management. It describes the needs in the area of structure, process and outcome quality. Since introduction, 12 geriatric departments (as of March 2007) have been successfully certified.