The Georgian health care system is planning to switch to the DRG system within the framework of the universal health care program. The health sector of the state calls for this change. A few days ago, 100 clinics sent a joint letter to the Minister of Health, Zurab Azarashvili, warning the ministry about the difficult financial situation in the clinics. According to the clinics, the rates determined within the universal healthcare system no longer cover their expenditures, that's why it is necessary to revise the rates.
According to Vakhtang Kaloyan, the head of the critical medicine department of New Hospitals, the introduction of DRG in the system will increase the predictability of expenditures. However, he notes, that the process of introducing the DRG system itself should be as transparent as possible.
"DRG is not a magic wand and I agree with colleagues, it will not solve problems in the health care system. It has several important effects - the first is the predictability of expenditures, it becomes transparent, which is very important. That is why the transparency of the DRG creation process itself is very important.
Today, the Hospital Association is focused on increasing the tariff and not on solving the problem systematically, the same is said about the Ministry of Health, and thirdly, the hospitals are not interested in keeping the patient for a long time. Although there are some negative elements to this, it can be a quick discharge that may not be in the patient's best interest.
Estonia and Latvia had the most successful examples of DRG implementation.
It is very important to determine the base rate and the relative price of each DRG. If we follow the principle, as the state calculated base rates in 2013, then we will get a worse result than we have today," explains Vakhtang Kaloyan.
