HOW WELL DO DIAGNOSIS‐RELATED GROUPS EXPLAIN VARIATIONS IN COSTS OR LENGTH OF STAY AMONG PATIENTS AND ACROSS HOSPITALS? METHODS FOR ANALYSING ROUTINE PATIENT DATA

We set out an analytical strategy to examine variations in resource use, whether cost or length of stay, of patients hospitalised with different conditions. The methods are designed to evaluate (i) how well diagnosis‐related groups (DRGs) capture variation in resource use relative to other patient characteristics and (ii) what influence the hospital has on their resource use. In a first step, we examine the influence of variables that describe...