produce some adverse effects. Among the more significant of the adverse effects attributed to the DRG reimbursement procedure are (1) a restriction in the access to health care services for those individuals whose health care is funded by the United States government, (2) a diminution in the quality of the health care services received by many of the individuals for whom the federal government funds health care, and (3) overall increases in the government's health care expenditures (Gosfield, 1994)
Although the proponents of DRG system claim that the primary goal of its use is to improve the quality of health care services, while, at the same time, controlling costs, most analysts tend to accept the view that cost containment is the sole aim of DRG. The findings of research on the application of DRG do indeed confirm that a strong relationship does exists between case mix and cost. Other research, however, also confirms the existence of a positive relationship between the cost and quality of health care ser
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