hospital payment mechanism based on an exhaustive patient case classification system (i.e. the system of diagnosis-related groupings1) and a payment formula specific to each group, without regard to the actual cost of care or duration of hospitalisation for any individual case1 DRG [ IATE:1294284 ]

classification of hospital patients according to principal and secondary diagnoses, age and sex, the presence of co-morbidities and complications and the procedures performed, which is used by insurance carriers to set reimbursement scales based on the premise that treatment of similar medical diagnoses generates similar costs