German diagnosis-related groups. Problems in the field of mental and behavioural disorders shown in the example of hospital treatment of alcoholics

Abstract

Hospital treatment in Germany will clearly change: instead of paying by the number of days, blanket prices including all necessary benefits will become the norm. The nearly innumerable treatments possible were collected into diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) requiring similar clinicomedical benefits and consuming similar financial resources. The DRG classification in Germany (G-DRG) will be oriented to the Australian refined diagnosis-related group (AR-DRG) system, which has existed since 1998. German psychiatric hospitals have by policy not yet been involved in the new system. However, a big sector of psychiatric activity--as far as number of patients is concerned--has already been incorporated in this new system: detoxification from legal and illegal drugs is involved in G-DRG inasmuch as it does not take place in psychiatric hospitals. If the DRG system becomes established in German psychiatric hospitals, grave difficulties will occur. These problems are described together with the expected results in the example of hospital treatment of alcoholics.