A EUROPEAN PROJECT ASSESSING THE APPROPRIATENESS OF HOSPITAL UTILIZATION - BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVES AND PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

This paper presents the background, objectives and preliminary results of a coordinated European Project involving researchers in seven coun tries aimed at harmonizing methods to assess inappropriate use of hosp ital care and qualifying its determinants, After briefly reviewing the philosophy of the European Union ''Concerted Action'' program in the context of current attempts at reforming the way health care is financ ed and delivered in several member states, the paper presents results obtained so far, Besides a method workshop where the approaches and me thodologies used were compared, during the first year the following ta sks have been undertaken: (a) identification and appraisal of a few do zen empirical studies conducted in various countries; (b) qualitative comparison of the instruments used to assess appropriateness; (c) init ial development of a common list of reasons for inappropriate hospital use of potential relevance in European health care systems. While the project has already undoubtedly indicated the great potential of Euro pean collaboration in health services research, the large number of un published studies traced indicates - among other things - the need to create channels through which results of this type of research can be disseminated.