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  • Title: Specific Medicare Severity-Diagnosis Related Group Codes Increase the Predictability of 30-Day Unplanned Hospital Readmission After Pancreaticoduodenectomy.
    Author: Xourafas D, Merath K, Spolverato G, Ashley SW, Cloyd JM, Pawlik TM.
    Journal: J Gastrointest Surg; 2018 Nov; 22(11):1920-1927. PubMed ID: 30039447.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: The Medicare Severity-Diagnosis Related Group coding system (MS-DRG) is routinely used by hospitals for reimbursement purposes following pancreatic surgery. We aimed to determine whether specific pancreatectomy MS-DRG codes, when combined with distinct clinicopathologic and perioperative characteristics, increased the accuracy of predicting 30-day readmission after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). METHODS: Demographic, clinicopathologic, and perioperative factors were compared between readmitted and non-readmitted patients at Brigham and Women's Hospital following PD. Different pancreatectomy DRG codes, currently used for reimbursement purposes [407: without complication/co-morbidity (CC), 406: with CC, and 405: with major CC] were combined with clinical factors to assess their predictability of readmission. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed to evaluate outcomes. RESULTS: Among 354 patients who underwent PD between 2010 and 2017, 69 (19%) were readmitted. The incidence of readmission was 13, 32, and 55% for patients with assigned DRG codes 407, 406, and 405, respectively (P = 0.0395). Readmitted patients were more likely to have had T4 disease (P = 0.0007), a vascular resection (P = 0.0078), and longer operative times (P = 0.012). On multivariable analysis, combining DRG 407 with relevant clinicopathologic factors was unable to predict readmission. In contrast, DRG 406 code among patients with N positive disease (P = 0.0263) and LOS > 10 days (P = 0.0505) was associated with readmission. DRG 405, preoperative obstructive jaundice (OR: 7.5, CI: 1.5-36, P = 0.0130), vascular resection (OR: 7.7, CI: 1.1-51, P = 0.0336), N positive stage of disease (OR: 0.2, CI: 0-0.9, P = 0.0447), and operative time > 410 min (OR: 5.9, CI: 1-32, P = 0.0399) were each strongly associated with 30-day readmission after PD [likelihood ratio (LR) < 0.0001]. CONCLUSIONS: Distinct pancreatectomy MS-DRG classification codes (405), combined with relevant clinicopathologic and perioperative characteristics, strongly predicted 30-day readmission after PD. DRG classification algorithms can be implemented to more accurately identify patients at a higher risk of readmission.
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