Diagnosis-Related Groups in Europe: Moving towards transparency, efficiency and quality in hospitals

Part One
1. From the origins of DRGs to their implementation in Europe
2. Introduction to DRGs in Europe: Common objectives across different hospital systems
3. Understanding DRGs and DRG-based hospital payment in Europe
4. DRG systems and similar patient classification systems in Europe
5. DRGs and cost accounting: Which is driving which?
6. DRG-based hospital payment: Intended and unintended consequences
7. DRG-based hospital payment and efficiency: Theory, evidence, and challenges
8. DRGs and quality: For better or worse?
9. Technological innovation in DRG-based hospital payment systems across Europe
10. Moving towards transparency, efficiency and quality in hospitals: Conclusions and recommendations

Part Two
11. Austria: Inpatient care and the LKF framework
12. England: The Healthcare Resource Group system
13. France: Implementing Homogeneous Patient Groups in a mixed market
14. Germany: Understanding G-DRGs
15. Ireland: A review of casemix applications within the acute public hospital system
16. NordDRG: The benefits of coordination
17. Estonia: Developing NordDRGs within social health insurance
18. Finland: DRGs in a decentralized health care system
19. Sweden: The history, development and current use of DRGs
20. Poland: The Jednorodne Grupy Pacjentów – Polish experiences with DRGs
21. Portugal: Results of 25 years of experience with DRGs
22. Spain: A case study on diversity of DRG use – The Catalan experience
23. The Netherlands: The Diagnose Behandeling Combinaties

Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) systems were introduced in Europe to increase the transparency of services provided by hospitals and to incentivise greater efficiency in the use of resources invested in acute hospitals. In many countries, these systems were also designed to contribute to improving – or at least protecting – the quality of care. After more than a decade of experience with using DRGs in Europe, this book considers whether the extensive use of DRGs has contributed towards achieving these objectives.

Written by authors with extensive experience of these systems, this book is a product of the EuroDRG project and constitutes an important resource for health policy-makers and researchers from Europe and beyond. The book is intended to contribute to the emergence of a ‘common language’ that will facilitate communication between researchers and policy-makers interested in improving the functioning and resourcing of the acute hospital sector. The book includes:

• A clearly structured introduction to the main ‘building blocks’ of DRG systems
• An overview of key issues related to DRGs including their impact on efficiency, quality, unintended effects and technological innovation in health care
• 12 country chapters - Austria, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden
• Clearly structured and detailed information about the most important DRG system characteristics in each of these countries
• Useful insights for countries and regions in Europe and beyond interested in introducing, extending and/ or optimising DRG systems within the hospital sector