3M™ APR DRG Software is widely used today for adjusting large volumes of data to reflect severity of illness and risk of mortality. 3M APR DRGs are an extension of the basic DRG structure that includes four severity-of-illness levels and four risk of mortality levels within each DRG. The 3M APR DRG severity and mortality subclasses are assigned according to a sophisticated clinical logic that simultaneously evaluates the interactions of multiple co-morbidities, age, procedures, and principal diagnosis.

Patients in each of the four clinically meaningful severity levels experience similar resource utilization and outcomes within the 3M APR DRG assignment. Unlike the CMS DRGs, which focus on the Medicare population, the 3M APR DRGs reflect the complete cross-section of patients seen in an acute care setting. The newborn and pediatric portions of the 3M APR DRGs were developed in conjunction with the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI).

The 3M APR DRG Software allows for comparison of hospital service lines, individual physician performance, and patient outcomes through the use of severity adjustment that creates a common measurement across disparate patient types. Quality initiatives and operational improvement can be targeted with 3M APR DRGs.

Case Study: Better documentation of patient acuity helped Vanderbilt Medical Center (PDF 91 KB) increase the accuracy of published quality performance reports.

Case Study: Conway Medical Center (PDF 205 KB) improved patient documentation to reduce claims needing re-review to less than 10 records per week.

Case Study: Johns Hopkins Hospital (PDF 162 KB) improved its case mix index to 9.7 percent in three years.

Case Study: Improved data reporting enabled Methodist Medical Center (PDF 164 KB) to accurately document the health of its patient population.

For more information, call 800.367.2447 or click here.