An Evaluation of the Patient Clinical Complexity Level (PCCL) Method for the Complexity Adjustment in the Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups (KDRG)
Objective
To evaluate the performance of the Patient Clinical Complexity Level (PCCL) mechanism, which is the patient level complexity adjustment factor within the Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups (KDRG) patient classification system, for explaining the variation of resource consumption within Age Adjacent Diagnosis-related groups (AADRGs).
Methods
We used the inpatient claims data from a public hospital in Korea from January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019, with 18,846 claims and 138 Age Adjacent Diagnosis-related groups (AADRGs). The differences in the total average payment between the four PCCL levels for each AADRG was tested using ANOVA and Duncan’s post-hoc test. The three patterns of the differences with R-squared were: the PCCL reflected the complexity well (Valid); the average payment of PCCL 2, 3, 4 was greater than PCCL 0 (Partially Valid); the PCCL did not reflect the complexity (Not Valid).
Results
There were 9 (6.52%), 26 (18.84%), and 103 (74.64%) ADRGs included in VALID, PARTIALLY VALID and NOT VALID, respectively. The average R-squared in VALID, PARTIALLY VALID, and NOT VALID was 32.18%, 40.81%, and 35.41% respectively, with the average R-squared for all patterns of 36.21%.
Conclusions
Adjusting using PCCL in the KDRG classification system exhibited low performance to explain the variation of resource consumption within Age Adjacent Diagnosis-related groups (AADRGs). As the KDRG classification system is used for reimbursement under the New DRG-based PPS pilot project with plans for expansion, there should be an overall review of the validity of the complexity and rationality of using the KDRG classification system.
Figure 1
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Posted 22 Sep, 2020
On 17 Jan, 2021
Received 12 Dec, 2020
Received 06 Dec, 2020
On 15 Nov, 2020
On 09 Nov, 2020
Invitations sent on 02 Oct, 2020
On 17 Sep, 2020
On 16 Sep, 2020
On 16 Sep, 2020
On 16 Sep, 2020
An Evaluation of the Patient Clinical Complexity Level (PCCL) Method for the Complexity Adjustment in the Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups (KDRG)
Posted 22 Sep, 2020
On 17 Jan, 2021
Received 12 Dec, 2020
Received 06 Dec, 2020
On 15 Nov, 2020
On 09 Nov, 2020
Invitations sent on 02 Oct, 2020
On 17 Sep, 2020
On 16 Sep, 2020
On 16 Sep, 2020
On 16 Sep, 2020
Objective
To evaluate the performance of the Patient Clinical Complexity Level (PCCL) mechanism, which is the patient level complexity adjustment factor within the Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups (KDRG) patient classification system, for explaining the variation of resource consumption within Age Adjacent Diagnosis-related groups (AADRGs).
Methods
We used the inpatient claims data from a public hospital in Korea from January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019, with 18,846 claims and 138 Age Adjacent Diagnosis-related groups (AADRGs). The differences in the total average payment between the four PCCL levels for each AADRG was tested using ANOVA and Duncan’s post-hoc test. The three patterns of the differences with R-squared were: the PCCL reflected the complexity well (Valid); the average payment of PCCL 2, 3, 4 was greater than PCCL 0 (Partially Valid); the PCCL did not reflect the complexity (Not Valid).
Results
There were 9 (6.52%), 26 (18.84%), and 103 (74.64%) ADRGs included in VALID, PARTIALLY VALID and NOT VALID, respectively. The average R-squared in VALID, PARTIALLY VALID, and NOT VALID was 32.18%, 40.81%, and 35.41% respectively, with the average R-squared for all patterns of 36.21%.
Conclusions
Adjusting using PCCL in the KDRG classification system exhibited low performance to explain the variation of resource consumption within Age Adjacent Diagnosis-related groups (AADRGs). As the KDRG classification system is used for reimbursement under the New DRG-based PPS pilot project with plans for expansion, there should be an overall review of the validity of the complexity and rationality of using the KDRG classification system.
Figure 1