health care system.

In the past 50 years the development of a wide range of medical devices has improved the quality of people's lives and revolutionized the prevention and treatment of disease, but it also has contributed to the high cost of health care. Issues that shape the invention of new medical devices and affect their introduction and use are explored in this volume. The authors examine the role of federal support, the decision-making process behind private funding, the need for reforms in regulation and product liability, the effects of the medical payment system, and other critical topics relevant to the development of new devices.

This book examines how nine different health systems--U.S. Medicare, Australia, Thailand, Kyrgyz Republic, Germany, Estonia, Croatia, China (Beijing) and the Russian Federation--have transitioned to using case-based payments, and especially diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), as part of their provider payment mix for hospital care. It sheds light on why particular technical design choices were made, what enabling investments were pertinent, and what broader political and institutional issues needed to be considered. The strategies used to phase in DRG payment receive special attention. These nine systems have been selected because they represent a variety of different approaches and experiences in DRG transition. They include the innovators who pioneered DRG payment systems (namely the United States and Australia), mature systems (such as Thailand, Germany, and Estonia), and countries where DRG payments were only introduced within the past decade (such as the Russian Federation and China). Each system is examined in detail as a separate case study, with a synthesis distilling the cross-cutting lessons learned. This book should be helpful to those working on health systems that are considering introducing, or are in the early stages of introducing, DRG-based payments into their provider payment mix. It will enhance the reader's understanding of how other countries (or systems) have made that transition, give a sense of the decisions that lie ahead, and offer options that can be considered. It will also be useful to those working in health systems that already include DRG payments in the payment mix but have not yet achieved the anticipated results.

Clinical laboratory tests play an integral role in helping physicians diagnose and treat patients. New developments in laboratory technology offer the prospect of improvements in diagnosis and care, but will place an increased burden on the payment system. Medicare, the federal program providing coverage of health-care services for the elderly and disabled, is the largest payer of clinical laboratory services. Originally designed in the early 1980s, Medicare's payment policy methodology for outpatient laboratory services has not evolved to take into account technology, market, and regulatory changes, and is now outdated. This report examines the current Medicare payment methodology for outpatient clinical laboratory services in the context of environmental and technological trends, evaluates payment policy alternatives, and makes recommendations to improve the system.