%0 Journal Article
%T The DRG Project of the German Transplant Society
%A R. Lohmann
%A B. Kr£żmer
%A O. Schaeger
%A T. Becker
%J Transplantationsmedizin
%D 2006
%I Pabst Science Publishers
%X Background: The DRG project of the Deutsche Transplantationsgesellschaft (DTG / German Society for Organ Transplantation) revealed that hospital admissions for evaluation before transplantation were not grouped into a specific DRG. In contrast, following grouping in most of these cases, the DRG of the underlying disease was reached. Hence the reimbursement for these DRGs were significantly lower than the estimated cost of the evaluation procedure, the DTG inaugurated a cost evaluation. Materials and methods: Five major transplant centres collected from 75 admissions for evaluation before liver transplantation 177 cost parameters per day. In addition, data required for grouping (diagnosis, procedures, length of hospital stay and duration of ventilation) were recorded and cost comparisons for single parameters were performed using DKG-NT (Deutsche Krankenhausgesellschaft Normal-Tarif [German Hospital Association regular price]) and Lauer-Taxe (drugstore base buying price). With this method the total actual cost per case was calculated. Results: Based on our data, our estimated cost for the evaluation procedure was much higher than the actual reimbursement under the new German DRG system. This led us to initiate a discussion with the InEK and subsequently the introduction of new OPS-codes and DRGs for evaluation before transplantation. Based on the proposal of the InEK and the DTG, these codes were added to the 2003 data base as additional data and forwarded to the InEK to enable them to perform an immediate retrospective validation of these DRGs. Discussion: In cooperation with the InEK, new OPS-codes and DRGs for admissions for evaluation before transplantation were introduced into the German DRG system. With the additional data provided by the transplant centres to the InEK, it enabled them to reduce the regular time for such system refinements from three to one year and thereby swiftly rectifying the inconsistency in the DRG-system.
%K DRG
%K organ transplantation
%K evaluation
%U http://www.transplantation.de/fileadmin/transplantation/txmedizin/txmedizin_2006_1/01_lohmann.pdf