[Developing rehabilitation treatment groups for cardiology and orthopaedics -- findings of a research project]

The call for a more specific and transparent service and reimbursement system for medical rehabilitation is not new. However, in practice, the idea was not followed up for a long time. This situation changed with the introduction of German Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) for acute care settings. It is now strongly being discussed whether such a sophisticated lump sum reimbursement system might also be a viable alternative in the field of rehabilitation. There still exist different opinions over the suitability of a lump sum-system for medical rehabilitation, but the main direction seems to be clear. There is no doubt that medical rehabilitation requires a needs-adapted, differentiated patient classification system. The benefits of such cost-homogeneous groups are evident. They support medical and management services and are suitable for both internal and external use. The main intent of the project presented was to develop such a patient classification system, adapted to the requirements of medical rehabilitation. The project concentrated on orthopaedic and cardiac rehabilitaton. For these two areas, needs-adapted and cost-homogeneous groups (RBG, Rehabilitationsbehandlungsgruppen - Rehabilitation Treatment Groups) were developed in order to adequately represent the underlying service portfolio and to act as a link between acute and post-acute care. In addition, severity level indicators were identified, in order to explain for different needs and resource volumes and in order to create severity-RBGs representing patients with the same severity level. Based on these groups, a needs-adapted lump sum reimbursement system can be developed, allowing for a differentiated service and cost controlling. The project described formed part of the Research Funding Programme Rehabilitation Sciences defrayed by the German Pension Insurance and the Federal Ministry for Education and Research. As part of the Freiburg/Bad Sackingen research network, it was realised at the University BW, Munich.