A decision aiding methodology to compare patient classification systems

Spanish public hospitals funding depends on the classification of attended pathologies. These pathologies are grouped thanks to a patient classification system (PCS) into the so-called diagnostic related groups (DRGs). International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coding systems generate various DRGs. Based on the ICD-9, the all patients diagnostic related groups (AP-DRGs) were used. In January 2016, Spain adopted ICD-10. One of the casualties from this transition was the AP-DRG PCS which did not accept information coded with ICD-10. A new system had to be adopted. In this paper we develop a methodology to assist decision-makers who are charged with evaluating and determining replacement PCS in the context of scarce resources and limited hospital funding. We ground our approach in a rigorous analytical framework is order to understand the pros and cons of candidate systems, from both clinical and managerial perspectives. We propose a multicriteria decision-aiding approach based on the outranking method, ELECTRE III to produce a ranking of the different options. The methodology is applied to a case study of a Spanish hospital where the change from ICD-9 to ICD-10 has already occurred.