Guided Notes
Introduction to Inpatient Coding & DRGs
How hospital inpatient coding differs — principal diagnosis, secondary diagnoses, CCs/MCCs, ICD-10-PCS basics, MS-DRGs, and present-on-admission indicators.
Why inpatient is different
Slide 1 / 5For an admitted patient, the hospital's payment for the whole stay is mostly fixed by the MS-DRG (Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Group) — not by each service. The DRG is calculated from: • the principal diagnosis, • secondary diagnoses (complications/comorbidities), • ICD-10-PCS procedures, • discharge status, age, sex.
So inpatient coders focus on complete, accurate diagnosis and procedure capture — that directly drives payment and quality statistics.