MS-DRG (Medicare severity-diagnosis related group) is a patient classification system used by CMS to determine Medicare reimbursement for inpatient hospital stays. MS-DRGs group patients with similar clinical characteristics and resource usage into categories that carry fixed payment amounts. The accuracy of MS-DRG assignment depends entirely on the completeness and precision of the underlying medical coding, specifically the principal diagnosis, secondary diagnoses, procedures, and documented comorbidities and complications.
