86 George Rupert Palmer – DRG carrier and champion LIANE TURNER AND STEPHANIE D SHORT Liane Turner is completing her PhD on ‘The emergence and diffusion of DRGs in Australia’ in the School of Health Services Management, The University of New South Wales. Stephanie Short is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health Services Management, The University of New South Wales; and co-author, with George Palmer, of Health Care and Public Policy. Abstract Prompted by the retirement of the distinguished health economist, researcher and academic, Professor George Rupert Palmer, the purpose of this paper is to reflect upon and acknowledge one of his many contributions to health services research and development. By employing a conceptual framework devised by Kimberly and de Pouvourville (1993) for analysis of the diffusion of innovations, this paper argues that Palmer played a crucial role in the diffusion into and within Australia of a particular casemix method, diagnosis related groups (DRGs). Textual and interview evidence presented in the paper supports the identification of George Rupert Palmer as the principal carrier of DRGs into Australia, and as one of its key champions within Australia. To many, Professor George Palmer is one of the ‘founding fathers’ of casemix in Australia. A health economist, he has led much of the research underpinning its introduction into the health care system (Galbraith 1993, p 14). Background Throughout his distinguished career, George Rupert Palmer has made significant contributions in the areas of academic research, scholarship and leadership in the fields of health economics, statistics and health services research. He has also acted as an adviser to State and Commonwealth governments, including as a member of the Australian Hospitals and Health Services Commission in the 1970s, where he contributed advice on hospital funding and on establishment of the Research and Development Grants Advisory Committee. Palmer also helped establish the first Women’s Health Centre in Australia, in Leichhardt, Sydney, and he has worked as an honorary adviser to numerous non-government organisations, including the New South