DRG (Diagnosis Related Groups) timing crucial for German healthcare system, say doctors
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
If the government forces an early introduction of the DRG (Diagnosis Related Groups) system in Germany, expect many clinics to disappear," warns Dr Frank Ulrich Montgomery, principal chairman of the Marburger Bund, the association of hospital-based doctors and medical staff. Commenting on the recently issued second draft of the DRG law, he said that the government was deluding itself to think that an early introduction would be successful, given the widely held view that there remain many problems to overcome. Moreover, the latest changes to the DRG draft law showed officials in the ministry of health to be panicking and desperately trying to conceal cracks in the system at the eleventh hour, said Dr Montgomery.