Impact of laboratory testing on DRG coding and reimbursement--results of a data base research.

We filed an Australian data base with about 7 million well-documented clinical cases for comorbidities, which can be proven, supported or excluded by laboratory testing and which have an impact on DRG reimbursement. The result was a list of 123 DRGs being shifted to a higher severity level by documenting one out of 157 complications. For better visualization of the more than 4,000 combinations, we developed a computer program, which allows the laboratory to develop its own diagnostic pathways for these complications in a simple Excel format.