It was a government Institute of the German Federal Ministry of Health and was located in Cologne, Germany.

[1] The DIMDI published official medical classifications such as ICD-10-GM and OPS (German Procedure Classification) and maintained medical terminology dictionaries, thesauri, nomenclatures and catalogs (e.g.

MeSH, UMDNS, Alpha-ID, LOINC, OID) that are important for health information exchange and other applications.

DIMDI also developed and operated database-supported information systems for drugs and medical devices and was responsible for a program of health technology assessment (HTA).

[2] On 26 May 2020, the DIMDI was merged with the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) into a single agency under the auspices of the BfArM "to combine the resources and expertise of both authorities".