HEALTH-CARE REFORM AND MEDICAL DOCUMENTAT ION - CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS,OUTLOOK AND INDICATIONS FOR CHANGES IN CLINICAL CARE

Facing limited resources, German health care reform has brought about major changes in reimbursement policies as well as in medical document ation. Coding of diagnosis and therapy is required by all hospitals si nce January 1, 1995. New types of reimbursement will soon be available . They will be based on exact information on the spectrum of services offered by the hospital. It is therefore essential that cost and produ ctivity be made transparent to all professionals involved in patient c are. The introduction of new administrative duties such as coding of d iagnosis and therapy to health care professionals in times of diminish ing resources necessitates automation, preferentially by computers. It was therefore the goal of this paper to discuss the new health care l egislation and to provide practical advice for automation of medical d ocumentation.