[Assesing the GRDOSIS Software program as a tool to analyse drug usase by DRGs]

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Pharmacy Informatics
• Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

• Accurate drug cost calculation within Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) is crucial for hospital resource management.
• The GRDOSIS software was developed to assist in this process for Spanish healthcare settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the GRDOSIS software for calculating Spanish drug weights within DRGs.
• To analyze the data used in this calculation and identify areas for optimization.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from a 7-hospital sample, integrating minimum basic data set and unit-dose drug consumption.
• Data cleaning by removing outlier length-of-stay cases within DRGs.
• Calculation of weights and pondered weights for the 5 most prevalent DRGs using GRDOSIS software options.

Main Results:

• Eliminating extreme cases significantly reduced mean cost per DRG.
• A small subset of DRGs and drugs accounted for a substantial portion of total costs.
• Demonstrated appropriate use of therapeutic groups and first-choice drugs, but noted variability in dosing and frequency.

Conclusions:

• GRDOSIS software is a powerful tool for qualitative and quantitative analysis of pharmacy department data.
• The software facilitates the analysis of drug usage profiles, dosage, and associated costs within DRGs.