title: Reimbursement for reconstruction by tissue transfer-a European comparison.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Case payment mechanisms have become the principal means of remunerating hospitals in most developed countries. Our purpose was to analyse the reimbursement for different types of tissue transfer in five European countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  We looked at common surgical options for pedicled and free flaps. The recipient site of a flap and the principal diagnosis were systematically modified and processed with national grouper software in order to identify Diagnosis-Related Groups from which the proceeds were derived. The primary data originated from the database of the German Institute for the Hospital Remuneration System as aggregate information. We conducted eight specialist interviews to transfer the available data into clinical practice. Data of real patients were not available and we rather simulated standard patients to avoid dilution of results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Altogether, payment for pedicled flaps averaged 5933€ and was 8517€ for free flaps. The comparison of both flap types within a country revealed significant differences in Germany, Austria and Sweden only (p < 0.001). Italy has the highest mean proceeds for pedicled flaps, followed by Sweden, Germany, Austria and the UK. This relationship changes for free flaps with Sweden achieving the highest payments. Overall, reimbursement conformity is higher for free flaps.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most countries have procedure-driven payment systems for flap surgery, which additionally can strongly depend on the diagnosis. Nevertheless the latter does not always justify existing price differences. For the first time, clinical cases in tissue transfer were compared internationally. In today`s dynamic world of health care, we should observe other countries` compensation systems to identify ways of improving our own.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, Burn and Trauma Center, Eberhard-Karls-University, Schnarrenbergstrasse 95, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. oliver.lotter@freenet.de.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lotter
authors.forename: William Arthur
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Townley
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gonser
authors.forename: Hans-Eberhard
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Schaller
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoefert
mesh_terms: D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D005060:Europe; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000191:economics*; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000191:economics*