[Hospital costs: results of empirical studies]

The DRG hospital payment system will be introduced in France in 1993-94 under the name of GHM ("groupes homogènes de malades"). However the method for evaluating costs is mainly based on past trends and, as a matter of fact, they exclude innovative care behavior from the doctors. Three new methods are therefore experimented: (i) standardized operation protocols; (ii) observation of consumed products and time of health personnel; (iii) observation of the costs resulting from the tariffs of the Social Security administration. The empirical studies were carried out in Montpellier and Nantes, two middle size cities of France.