Coding and DRG Relationships in Stroke and Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA)

Abstract

The selection of cohorts from national and state databases in Australia usually relies on patient diagnoses according to International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes and/or Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs). The aim of this study was to select a specific cohort consisting of stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA) episodes, thereby allowing the researcher to examine current process of care using State level hospital admissions datasets. Difficulties in accurately selecting the specified cohort were encountered, due to various interpretations of ICD codes and DRGs as well as the placement of codes to DRGs and different classifications used. These difficulties highlighted several issues regarding the relationships between ICD coding and DRGs in stroke and TIA and are the focus of this paper.