The financing system of health care in many
European countries is based on Diagnosis Related Groups
(DRG). In this system all treated patients are classified, based on
selected clinical characteristics, into patient groups (case mixes)
which consume the resources of the hospital in a similar manner.
In such situation the payer should be interested in information
about the unit costs calculated in hospitals that are important
factor to value medical services. The article describes the cost
accounting system rules used in hospitals of selected European
countries that send their cost information to the central level
where they are used in the pricing decisions made by a payer.