Efficiency, Innovation, and Sustainability in Healthcare Systems

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Policy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 644

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Department of Health Economics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
2. Faculty of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, Aristotelous 18, 26335 Patras, Greece
Interests: health economics; health services management; healthcare expenditures and finance; health policy; health systems; public health; economic evaluation of health services; outcomes research; health-related quality of life; health state utilities; cost efficiency of healthcare

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Guest Editor
Public Health and Therapies, Birmingham City University, Birmingham B15 3TN, UK
Interests: health policy; health economics; economic evaluation; public health; health inequality; quantitative; impact evaluation; healthcare utilization; International health
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A country’s healthcare system is a major pillar of its social infrastructure, aiming to provide safe, effective, and high-quality services to the population. The sustainability of healthcare systems is a long-term challenge that is threatened by populations aging, the increasing prevalence of chronic conditions, costly new therapies leading to substantial rises in health expenditures, the shortage of qualified health personnel, and the increasing challenges in administrative processes and cybersecurity, not to mention unexpected burdens from natural disasters or pandemics. From an equity perspective, focusing on sustainability is critical in prioritizing the distribution of scarce health resources between the present and the future. Hence, it becomes an issue of efficiency, as the non-wasteful use of human, material, informational, and energy resources is crucial in viable and sustainable development. Strategic management decisions and policies targeting efficiency and sustainability cannot ignore innovation, as it is fundamental in achieving both. In view of the healthcare sustainable development goals (SDGs), policymakers around the globe are facing the challenge of balancing cost containment with equity, quality, and environmentally friendly innovation.

This Special Issue of Healthcare aims to contribute new knowledge to the scientific literature on the topics of efficiency, innovation, quality, and sustainability in healthcare systems, as well as to fuel ongoing debates on these and/or other related issues. Original research articles and all types of reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework in healthcare, the efficient use of health resources, sustainability and health inequities, sustainable financing, innovation and big data analytics.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Nikolaos Kontodimopoulos
Dr. Olatunde Aremu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • efficiency
  • equity
  • financing
  • health systems
  • healthcare
  • innovation
  • quality
  • sustainability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 2232 KiB  
Article
Achieving Robust Medical Coding in DRGs Systems: Innovative Actions Adopted in Greece
by Charalampos Platis, Leonidas Papaioannou, Panagiota Sideri, Pantelis Messaropoulos, Konstantinos Chalkias and Nikolaos Kontodimopoulos
Healthcare 2024, 12(17), 1782; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12171782 - 6 Sep 2024
Viewed by 295
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate and illustrate the effectiveness of a specialized digital platform developed to improve the accuracy of medical coding during the full implementation of Greece’s new DRG system, and to highlight innovative actions for achieving and/or improving [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate and illustrate the effectiveness of a specialized digital platform developed to improve the accuracy of medical coding during the full implementation of Greece’s new DRG system, and to highlight innovative actions for achieving and/or improving accurate medical coding. Already grouped DRG cases recorded in the first DRG implementation year in the region of Crete were examined. A sample of 133,922 cases was analyzed and audited, through a process consisting of three stages: (i) digitalization, (ii) auditor training, and (iii) control and consultation. The results indicated that a significant proportion of DRG coding, with a length of stay exceeding one day, was reclassified into different DRG categories. This reclassification was primarily due to coding errors—such as the omission of secondary diagnoses, exclusion of necessary medical procedures, and the use of less specific codes—rather than mistakes in selecting the principal diagnosis. The study underscores the importance of medical coding control and consulting services. It demonstrates that targeted actions in these areas can significantly enhance the implementation of the DRG coding system. Accurate medical coding is crucial for transparent allocation of resources within hospitals, ensuring that hospital services and reimbursements are appropriately managed and allocated based on the true complexity and needs of patient cases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficiency, Innovation, and Sustainability in Healthcare Systems)
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