International comparisons of healthcare costs are growing in importance for a number of different applications. The use of common approaches to converting costs such as GDP purchasing power parities (PPPs) often does not reflect price differences in healthcare in an appropriate manner. This...

This article identifies and analyses a framework for "health baskets," the taxonomy of benefit catalogues for curative services, and the criteria for the in- or exclusion of benefits in nine EU member states (Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Spain)....

Rising pharmaceutical expenditure has become a major concern for policy makers in Germany over recent years. Therefore, the pharmaceutical market has been increasingly targeted by different kinds of regulation, focussing on both the supply and the demand side, using price, volume and spending...

Over the past 20 years, most European countries have introduced DRGs or similar grouping systems as instruments for hospital reimbursement. This paper compares and analyzes the methods used to determine prices for inpatient care within DRGs or similar grouping systems employed in nine EU member...

Germany has recently introduced a system of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) to engender more appropriate resource allocation. The following article describes the German DRG-system and the methodologies used to determine prices. It analyses the extent to which prices, or calculated cost weights,...

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to assess the cost-effectiveness (net costs per life year gained) of telemedical devices for pre-clinical traffic accident emergency rescue in Germany. METHODS: Two equipment versions of a telemedical device are compared from a societal perspective with...

OBJECTIVE: To calculate per-case hospital costs for patients with cystic fibrosis under routine conditions from a healthcare provider's perspective; identify the impact of different cost categories; investigate whether cases with cystic fibrosis can be grouped into homogenous cost groups...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the price reactions of German pharmacies to changes made to OTC drug regulations in 2004. Prior to these changes, regulations guaranteed identical prices in all German pharmacies. METHODS: Two years after market deregulation, 256 pharmacies were surveyed to determine the...