Related Articles

1. Schneider KC. Overview of the RDRGŪ Severity System. New Haven:  Health Systems Consultants, Inc. 2008.
   This article provides an overview of the HSC products. It describes the methodology employed for severity adjustment, data sources, and data requirements for the software, which is applicable to hospital patients of all ages including pediatrics and all payors. Comparison norms and validation tests are discussed and sample reports are provided.
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2. Freeman JL, Fetter RB, Park H, Schneider KC, Lichtenstein JL, Hughes JS, Bauman WA, Duncan CC, Freeman DH Jr, Palmer GR. DRG Refinement with Diagnosis and Procedure Specific Comorbidities and Complications.  Medical Care, 1995:806-827. A reprint of this article is available from HSC.
   This peer-reviewed journal article discusses the original effort by Yale University researchers to address severity of illness in the diagnosis-related groups (DRGs). The approach, which makes more refined uses of secondary diagnoses, is not a radical departure from the DRG framework and does not require new data collection efforts. Estimates of hospital costs and utilization based on the new approach were more accurate than those based on unrefined DRGs.
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