Summary Within a period of five years, the Ger­man diagnosis-related-group (G-DRG) system has emerged as a highly differentiated diagnosis- and service-related system. Flat-rate reimbursement leads to a reduction in the length of hospital stay. In order to avoid a loss of therapeutic quality, clinical processes are coordinat­ed, and clinical pathways created. Only in exception­al cases does an anaesthetist himself directly discharge a patient from hospital, and, depending on the internal accounting system, he cannot normally credit his own budget with any profit or with the DRG lump sum. Nevertheless, he is directly involved in the DRG system via the following two functions: the correct documentation and coding of diag­noses and procedures evidence-based planning of core anaesthesiological procedures in the operation theatre, in the inten­sive care unit, and with regard to pain control, with the aim of avoiding complications and shortening hospital stay. With the aid of the current versions of the German ICD 10 and the catalogue of procedures (OPS 301) diagnoses can be differentiated and special intensive care procedures can be documented. It is worth nothing that, in the majority of cases, the application of a complicated system comprising complex codes defining multiple procedures, together with addition­al remuneration, makes possible an adequate definition of intensive care measures.