An Analysis of Health Services Using Disease Staging: A Pilot Study in the Emilia‐Romagna Region of Italy

Abstract

The European Community is currently experimenting with the use of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) and other patient classification systems. Disease Staging is a clinically based classification system which focuses on the dimensions of severity of illness and can be implemented using the same data required for the DRGs. Reports a pilot study in the Emilia‐Romagna region of Italy, where data were analysed from three hospitals for patients hospitalized in 1988 with four diseases: coronary artery disease/acute myocardial infarction, cholecystitis, appendicitis, and diabetes mellitus. The same patients were classified using DRGs and Disease Staging, and the Disease Staging methodology was used to analyse issues of timeliness of hospital admission, length of stay patterns, and in‐hospital mortality rates.