Diagnostic related groups: problems and opportunities

Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs) represent a paradox. On the one hand, they lack clinical meaningfulness, particularly in regard to cancer patients. DRG 403, which includes patients diagnosed than 69 and/or complications or comorbidities, is particularly inadequate as a tool to group together homogeneous patients. On the other hand, the practice of classifying similar patients into clinically meaningful groups represents a potentially valuable new tool for providing cost-effective patient care.