Development of a casemix classification system for inpatient rehabilitation services: stage 1 of the Victorian Rehabilitation Project.

This study examines the feasibility of classifying rehabilitation patients according to relative cost and proposes an option for a casemix classification and payment system for rehabilitation services in Victoria. The classification system proposed has 16 mutually exclusive groups based on patient diagnosis, change in functional status, admission functional status and age, using patient length of stay as a proxy for cost. Data relating to five hospitals were collected over three months during 1994, resulting in 483 inpatient episodes from a variety of impairment groups. The data were analysed using an analysis of variance model (PC Group), with the resulting model accounting for 30 per cent of the variance in length of stay. The study also considers the implications of incentives to contain cost and concludes by suggesting that such a payment system would be feasible to implement following further research to validate and refine the system.