Present trends in the development of hospital care and financing hospitalsin European OECD countries

Overview

In the paper characterized are the basic functions of hospitals in healthcare systems ofdeveloped countries in Europe and of the USA, present trend in hospital bed care and themajorproblems in financing hospital care. The hospital sector in industrially developed countries inthe world employs 2.5 to 6 % of the work force in the national economy and more than 50 % ofthat in the health care sector. In the past two decades, in almost all industrialised countriesthere have decreased the numbers of beds for acute patients, and the duration of treatment hasfallen significantly, however, the numbers of employed in the hospital sector have not diminished.That is connected with requirements for increased quality in hospital care and with theintroduction of new medical technologies.The fundamental problem in financing bed care covered by public funding is to ensure a balancebetween the income and expenses of hospitals on the one hand, and the requirement ofincreasing the quality of hospital care on the other, under curtailment of expenditures for thehospital sector. Problems with the financing of hospitals are not specific only for the CzechRepublic, but they are typical of a number of OECD countries. Ever new and effective ways ofcovering hospital bed care are being sought. Several European countries are experimentallyintroducing theDRGsystem.The most efficientway of rationalizing hospital cost are consideredto be globally binding budgets adjusted for patient structure by urgency of therapy (case-mix)and for inflation.

Key words:
hospital -⁠ function -⁠ qualification -⁠ changes and their determinants -⁠ changes infinancing.