Evaluation of the productivity of Brazilian hospitals by the methodology of diagnosis related group (DRG)

TL;DR

This study evaluates the use of the DRG methodology to measure hospital productivity in Brazil, demonstrating its effectiveness in predicting hospital days and aiding cost and quality management.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence supporting DRG as a reliable tool for assessing hospital productivity based on hospitalization data.

Findings

DRG effectively predicts hospital days

Grouping by clinical and surgical categories enables detailed analysis

DRG contributes to cost control and quality improvement

Abstract

The management requires a hospital organization to provision their costs/expenses with tools that approximate reality. The task of measuring productivity can be complex and uncertain, several methods are tested and the use of the DRG has been efficient, being used to assess the productivity through clinical outcomes. Cross-sectional study evaluated 145.710 hospitalizations in the period 2012-2014, using the DRG methodology for measuring productivity from the median length of hospitalization. When we group all hospitalizations in clinical (37.6%) and surgical (62.4%), multiple analyzes could be made according to this criterion. The DRG as a tool for prediction of hospital days is an effective alternative, thereby contributing to the control of productivity that directly influences the costs of hospital expenses and product and service quality.