[Introduction of the new DRG-based reimbursement system in German hospitals--a difficult operation? Experiences and...

Until recently the costs of patients in German hospitals have mainly been calculated according to the length of hospital stay. However, in December 1999, a dramatic change was announced in the social laws in the "Gesundheitsreform 2000." Beginning in 2003 a prospective payment system based on the classification of the "Australian Refined DRGs (AR-DRG)" will be introduced. DRGs are already used in quite a lot of industrialized countries and basically are "per case" payment systems that group patients with homogeneous average costs based on the diagnoses and procedures performed in the hospital. When preparing for this new system, the clinician has a lot of additional tasks. Besides correctly documenting all clinical findings with the ICD-10 Diagnoses and the German OPS301 procedure codes, a knowledge of the economical impact of the clinical decision is absolutely crucial. The most important task is the optimizing of all clinical treatment processes (e.g. by the introduction of clinical pathways), because only hospitals that can do highly efficient treatment will be able to survive in the upcoming competitive situation. In the Krankenhaus München--Schwabing DRGs have been used as a benchmarking tool since 1997. Based on valuable experience, many direct measures to optimize efficiency have been taken. Especially in patients with multiple trauma, it became evident that the use of efficient and standardized treatment can bring economic gain without loss of quality.