COST ACCOUNTING IN GERMAN HOSPITALS
The reimbursement system in Germany based on
German Diagnosis Related Groups (G-DRG) was introduced
in 2000.
The rules of cost accounting for German hospitals are not
obligatory nor directly regulated in German law. However
financing hospitals according to the G-DRG system require
the implementation of medical and cost - controlling
systems, that could help in monitoring of resource
consumption and a level of medical services. In almost
every hospital in Germany there is a separate unit responsible
for so called medical accounting. Medical controllers, who
are mainly doctors, investigate hospital cases in terms of the
correct coding in order to avoid negative evaluation made by
sickness fund and to maximize hospital's income. In order to
control the incurred costs as well as sources of costs of
unused resources, hospitals more and more often generate
cost data at the patient's level.
In order to calculate cost weights Institute for the
Hospital Remuneration System (IneK Institute) collects cost
information from the group of hospitals, which voluntarily
gather cost information at the patient's level. Only those
hospitals which can adjust their cost data to the standards
specified by the IneK in so called Calculation Manual, can
participate in the cost data gathering systems