[German Refined-Diagnosis Related Groups 2008 version. What is new for anaesthesia and intensive care medicine?]

The present article reviews improvements in the 2008 version of the German Refined - Diagnosis Related Groups (G-DRG) which are relevant for anaesthesia and intensive care medicine. The focal points of further developments and the data base of the updated DRG version are presented. The efforts of the InEK, the institution which is responsible for the design and development of the G-DRG system, to provide a transparent system driven by rules are also explained, followed by a description of changes in coding of diagnoses (e.g. new diagnosis codes, revised complication and comorbidity level matrix, new specifications of individual diagnosis-related groups such as acute paraplegia) and procedures (e.g. new procedure codes, modifications for complex procedures). Furthermore, some new developments concerning the functions "complicating procedure" (increase in number of G-DRGs concerned and enlarged coverage of complex intensive care procedures) as well as changes in the demographic attribute "mechanical ventilation" (modification of G-DRGs for prolonged mechanical ventilation) are discussed. Finally, the legal requirements for supplemental revenues in 2008 (e.g. new additions, movements between different catalogues of services, transitions from the catalogue of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic methods to the official catalogue) are updated. The present contribution is an update of previous articles on this topic published in this journal in 2007. Therefore, knowledge of these previous publications is a prerequisite for the understanding of the current article. Readers who are not familiar with the complex material should refer to the publications from 2007.