[Estimation for bugeting and evaluation of surgical procedures within the scope of comparative hospital...

Comparison of costing and performances of individual departments or hospitals are required by the statute book of social affairs (Sozialgesetzbuch V; SGB V), but have not been fully introduced in Germany. LBK Hamburg, a trust of 8 hospitals with 17 surgical departments, evaluated the significance of performance and cost-accounting systems such as performance and cost-accounting (LKA), nursing staff regulation (PPR), and the diagnosis-related group system in order to distribute a three-year budget (1996-1998) and to compare, e.g., performance of surgical departments. The DRG system seems to be the best choice, since it weights all cases by means in 640 groups according to the degree of difficulty. With a given closed budget, the DRG system may compare the actual cost with the target figures.