DRGs and the Professional Independence of Physicians

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

Authors

This chapter examines the effects of diagnosis related groups (DRGs) on the professional independence of physicians in three distinct types of healthcare systems: the U.S. private insurance system, where DRGs were first developed and subsequently implemented in the public Medicare program in 1983; the British National Health Service (NHS), which adopted an analogous version of DRGs referred to as Health Resource Groups (HRGs) in 1992; and the German social insurance system, which adopted its own DRG version (G-DRGs) based on a refined version of the Australian model that is to be fully phased into the hospital system by 2009. By examining these three cases, the present contribution asks (a) whether it is possible to identify any effects of DRGs on the professional independence of physicians; and (b) whether these effects are specific to the respective healthcare system and/or DRG version at hand.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Research on Information Technology Management and Clinical Data Administration in Healthcare
EditorsAshish N. Dwivedi
Number of pages19
Volume1
Place of PublicationHershey, PA
PublisherMedical Information Science Reference
Publication date2009
Pages173-191
ISBN (print)9781605663562
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes