Do Diagnosis Related Groups change admission practice to a large Swiss ICU

The new Swiss financing system by means of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG), effective 1 January 2012, forms the basis of a performance-based system to reimburse general hospital services. There are only few data on the influence of DRG on ICU patients [1,2]. We expect that the introduction of the DRG in Switzerland will change the number of admissions from external hospitals to a large ICU with a centre function and will influence the severity of disease of the admitted patients.