Financial risk, hospital cost, and complications and comorbidities (CCs) in non-CC stratified neurosurgical diagnostic related groups (DRGs).
The purpose of this study was to analyze hospital resource consumption in the nine neurosurgical DRGs not stratified by complicating condition (CCs) (i.e., those neurosurgical DRGs that give no additional payment for associated medical conditions or complications occurring in the hospital). We analyzed 148 Medicare patients in these non-CC stratified neurosurgical DRGs and found that patients with a greater number of CCs had higher hospital resource consumption, substantial financial risk under DRGs, and a poorer outcome than patients with no CCs. These data suggest that the current DRG classification scheme may be inequitable vis-à-vis the non-CC stratified neurosurgical DRGs at our hospital. Hospitals that treat significant numbers of these patients may face disincentives to care for them under prospective Medicare DRG reimbursement.
D001803:Blood Transfusion; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000191:economics*