Slovenia

HEALTH INSURANCE INSTITUTE OF SLOVENIA SELECTS HEALTHCOST TO UNDERTAKE NATIONAL HOSPITAL COSTING STUDY

March 2008 was a productive month for Healthcost and one where we again secured a contract with the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (the Institute) to undertake their annual National Hospital Costing Study.

The Institute is responsible for collecting and managing the distribution of health insurance funds in Slovenia and utilises a Casemix based payment system for hospitals based on the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Group (AR-DRG) classification. The National Hospital Costing Study in Slovenia is an important aspect to the Casemix funding formula as it enables funds to be distributed to hospitals equitably and efficiently according to the cost profiles of different patient types – reflected in the AR-DRGs.

Healthcost Director Brett Oates will be project managing the costing study and working alongside Kevin Ratcliffe and Gavin Mowling. Brett, who has conducted previous costing studies in Slovenia, is looking forward to the project: "We will be undertaking patient level costing exercises in up to 10 Slovenian hospitals, including the Ljubljana Medical Centre - with 1,900 beds - the Centre is one of the largest hospitals in Europe. After working exclusively with hospitals for the past fifteen years, it is immensely satisfying to see countries such as Slovenia and Ireland turn to Healthcost to provide their patient costing solutions. It is a real pat on the back for us to know that they value our expertise and experience in this area. Of course, the added bonus is that we get to visit Slovenia – a very beautiful country!"

University Medical Centre, Ljubljana