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.