Merely talking about abortion could cost groups not only federal money, but also useful technical support and American-donated supplies of contraceptives, including condoms for distribution in the communities they serve.
The cost groups with higher volume of ventilated patients circumvent this aspect.
Further reform steps are currently discussed in the Swiss parliament and will likely include the introduction of pharmaceutical cost groups.
Also, further modifications to risk adjustment such as the planned introduction of pharmaceutical cost groups in Switzerland will have a yet unclear impact on the balance.
For the remuneration of outpatient services it seems therefore plausible to stratify CF patients into homogeneous cost groups according to age, and create separate reimbursement rates for two or three age groups.
Neither the diagnosis nor the lung function-related severity model were independent risk factors for high staff costs and seem to be inappropriate criteria for the classification of patients into homogenous cost groups.
