Evaluation of hospital admissions for angiocardiographic procedures in patients with cardiovascular disease (DRG 124): a retrospective study in four Rome hospitals (Italy) [Analisi dei ricoveri ordinari finalizzati all'esecuzione di esami angiocardiografici per patologie cardiovascolari attributi al DRG 124: studio retrospettivo in quattro ospedali di Roma.]

The aim of this study was to evaluate hospital admissions assigned to DRG 124 because attributable to the diagnosis and therapy of cardiovascular diseases and the performance of an angiocardiographic exam with contrast and/or cardiac catheterism. As part of the hospital activity evaluations performed by the Lazio Region between 1 January 2002 and 30 June 2005 in four healthcare institutions in the Rome metropolitan area, 136 admissions assigned to DRG 124 were evaluated. An evaluation grid was used to verify information recorded in the hospital discharge forms and hospital medical records for these admissions. Overall 89% (121/136) of medical records were found to be incongruent with the corresponding hospital discharge form and 53% of admissions (72/136) were reassigned a different DRG after evaluation. In most of these cases (n=54; 76%) the selection of a different DRG was required because an incorrect main diagnosis had originally been chosen. The mean relative weight of admissions in which DRG reassignment was required was 1.4189 before recoding and 0.7545 after these were assigned to a new DRG.