Distributing medical resources

Allocating scarce medical resources has become an important topic in public discussion. In the German statutory health system we are facing a situation of lacking adequate funds for all needs. The financial restrictions force us to use resources wisely. This emphasizes the need of general allocation rules and criteria applied in medical allocation situations. The purpose of this work is to implement and interpret properties of cooperative bargaining theory to special allocation situations in medicine. The author shows how the concepts of Nash and Kalai/Smorodinsky can be applied to a medical allocation problem and discusses implications of their properties and solutions for the German health system.

Autorentext

Antje Köckeritz, born in 1977, studied Business Administration at the University of Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), as well as Public Affairs at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of the University of Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA). She worked as a research assistant at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in the field of health economics and bargaining theory. In 2011 she took a position at the health ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate in Mainz.

Inhalt
Contents: Allocation of scarce resources in medicine Financial restrictions to suffice all medical needs Definition of a specific medical allocation situation Application of cooperative bargaining theory Implications for the German statutory health system.