One of AIMS most popular commentary series returns as Johan Hjertqvist, internationally known health care reformer, discusses the positive effects of the reintroduction of prices for health care procedures.
According to Hjertquist, among the important reforms to the medicare model in Stockholm, no single step has been of greater importance than the restoration of prices for health care procedures in hospitals. The acronym for the price tag per treatment is known as “Diagnostic Related Group”. The DRG price mechanism, introduced in 1990, underpins the remarkable increases in productivity and efficiency in the delivery of publicly funded Swedish health care. By attaching an official price tag to every hospital treatment, government budget makers enabled providers both to improve their performance and to shift the system’s focus to the needs of health-care consumers.
