OBJECTIVES: To evaluate differences between public and private hospitals in abciximab prescriptions for patients undergoing PCI with coronary artery disease (CAD) in France. METHODS: Data were collected from the 2002 “PMSI” database (DRG for every patient admitted). To evaluate the total number of PCI performed for CAD in private and public hospitals, we selected the following DRGs (myocardial infarction, coronary endoprothesis, cardiac catheterization) and crossed them with the following acts performed during PCI (transluminal angioplasty, stent implantation, atherectomy). We computed the numbers of abciximab prescriptions from the French sales 2002 in each private and public hospitals. RESULTS: In 2002, 96,247 PCI were performed in patients hospitalized for CAD (52,046 in private setting, 44,201 in public setting). Abciximab was administered for 7719 and 2327 PCI procedures in public and private hospitals, respectively. Abciximab was used for only 18% of PCI in public hospitals and 4.5% in private ones, although, abciximab is the only drug indicated for prevention of cardiac ischemic complications in patients undergoing PCI and recognized by French authorities as correlated to a “major improvement” for these patients. CONCLUSION: The important difference in 2002 between public and private sectors can be mostly explained by different funding systems: global budget for public hospitals, fee for services, payment per day and low daily fixed fare for drugs in private hospitals. In France, a new DRG system of funding, close to the one for profit hospitals was implemented in public institutions in 2004. Before that, the results show a clear difference in the recourse to abciximab between public and private sectors for the same DRGs due to the difference in financing. If nothing happens, it can be foreseen that the results observed for profit hospitals will be the rule for public hospitals and patients undergoing PCI could no more benefit from abciximab.