Implementing DRGs in Slovenia: why the Australian variant was selected

Abstract

Slovenia is embarking on an ambitious health sector reform program, a small part of which involves implementingthe categorization of acute inpatients by DRG for payment purposes. I summarise the leading DRG variants, anddescribe the process of selecting one of them.I argue that the Slovenian decision to use the Australian DRG variant as a starting point was sensible in terms of cost,speed of implementation, and usefulness of the resultant information. More time and effort could have been spent onthe appraisal process, but I suspect it would not have led to a different outcome.