Using DRG weight as a tool to assess comorbidities and complexity associated with twins

Background: Diagnosis related groups (DRG) describe the complexity of a patient’s care at the end of the hospital stay for billing purposes. Coding of the DRG can be complicated, but there are only seven DRG codes for newborns. Each DRG has a numeric weight which increases with increased morbidity and lower gestational age. DRG weights range from 0.1771 for a normal newborn to 5.2692 for an infant with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) or < 26 weeks. DRG weight may also be used to clinically …