Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:622-624
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Finding psychiatric diagnosis-related groups that work: a call for research
DW Light, EJ Phipps, GE Piper, DJ Rissmiller, JN Mobilio and WF Ranieri
Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) are under consideration as a way to pay
hospitals for psychiatric care. Yet psychiatric DRGs account for only 3% of
the variation in how long patients stay in the hospital. This nearly random
variation means that psychiatrists may be working under a payment system
that will have little relation to clinical reality. The authors identify
important flaws in the current psychiatric DRGs and describe an alternative
approach that promises to reflect clinical reality much more accurately.
