Accurate and effective documentation will align Severity of Illness (SOI) with Geometric Mean Length of Stay (GMLOS).
Question: Which patient has a longer GMLOS?
Patient A: 67 yo male with sepsis due to pneumonia, acute respiratory failure, chronic diastolic CHF, DM Type 2 with nephropathy, chronic kidney disease stage 3 and HTN
OR:
Patient B: 67 yo male with pneumonia, CHF, DM, renal insufficiency and HTN
Answer:
Patient A: Even if patient A and B are the exact same patient!
*Note: The only difference between patient A & patient B is the number and specificity of diagnoses with which patient A was described as having in the medical record
Patient A = MS-DRG 871; expected GMLOS of 4.9 days
Patient B = MS-DRG 195; expected GMLOS of 2.8 days
