Glossary
This Web resource allows healthcare consumers to compare hospitals based on average charges and average lengths of stay. It's a service provided by the New Jersey Hospital Association and its member hospitals, who are committed to providing current comparative information that is timely and easy to access. This information does not constitute, nor should it substitute for, medical advice. Disclaimer.
Average Length of Stay - The amount of time a patient stays in the hospital. Average length-of-stay is a big-picture look at how many days patients with the same diagnosis remain admitted in the hospital.
Charges - The published price that hospitals set as a starting point for negotiating with insurance companies, rarely the amount that patients actually pay. Roughly 10 percent or less of hospital claims statewide are paid at the "charges" rate.
Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) - A system of classifying hospital services based on the presence of similiar diagnosis and procedures used by Medicare to pay hospitals a fixed rate based on a specific diagnosis.
Major Diagnostic Categories (MDC) - A grouping in which similar diagnoses are organized into 25 broader diagnostic categories.
Teaching hospital - A hospital that trains medical students and newly graduated physicians called "residents."
Top 25 DRGs
The assignment of the top 25 DRGs is hospital specific. The top 25 DRGs will vary from one hospital to another based on variables such as patient mix, payor mix and service mix.
|