Krankenanstalten-Zusammenarbeitsfonds, KRAZAF#

Krankenanstaltenzusammenarbeitsfonds, KRAZAF (Hospital Cooperation Fund), fund in existence from 1978-1996 based on a state treaty according to article 15a BVG (Federal Constitutional Act) between the state and the provinces, an important instrument for financing hospitals. The Hospital Cooperation Fund was financed mainly by the turnover tax and by social insurance agencies (1997: more than ATS 47 bn). Decisions were made in the Fund Assembly, a political body headed by the Health Minister. The Hospital Cooperation Fund distributed subsidies and other allowances for Austrian non-profit making hospitals and granted money used for structural reform and relief in the field of in-patient treatment. Conditions for obtaining grants were cost accounting, performance statistics broken down into the main diagnostic categories (ICD-9), authorisation for the construction or modification of buildings and for the purchase of large-scale equipment as well as compliance with the stipulated physician-to-hospital-bed ratio. The Hospital Cooperation Fund was also responsible for the preparation of an all-Austrian hospital plan and a system of hospital financing based on actual medical treatment administered and on diagnosis-related groups which came into force on January 1, 1997 based on an agreement between the state and the provinces (in force until December 31, 2000).