Complejidad y función. Revisión de los sistemas de clasificación de pacientes en geriatría

Case-mix classification systems aim to estimate each patient's care requirements, taking into account functional and clinical characteristics, with a view to allocating resources to healthcare services. Most case-mix systems do not take disability variables into account, thereby underestimating the impact of dependence on resource utilization. This is true of diagnosis-related groups (DRG), the main system used in acute-stay hospitals in Spain. Resource utilization groups (RUG) do include physical and mental disability variables in their classification, but are not universally implemented in Spain. Ambulatory and integral case-mix systems are not currently implemented, but could be very useful in identifying high-risk subpopulations.