[1] An example case mix might be male patients under the age of 50, who present with a myocardial infarction and also undergo emergency coronary artery bypass surgery.
At a local level, such as a single hospital; the data within a case mix may relate to the activity of an individual consultant, a specific speciality or a particular unit (such as a ward).
In the Netherlands, the casemix system is called a "DBC" (Dutch:Diagnosebehandelcombinatie), and can be defined as a predefined average care package, which is applied with a fixed price when a specific diagnosis occurs.
A single acute episode of inpatient care is allocated to one DRG using coded clinical information derived from the patient’s medical record.
Each DRG is allocated a ‘weight’, which is dependent on the average cost of inputs (e.g. nursing, diagnostic services, procedures) required to achieve the appropriate patient outcome.
However the complexities of the system (in the Netherlands, over 100,000 DBC's can be theoretically charged) has led new initiatives to link billable activities directly to international standards, such as the ICD-10.
Because mental health treatment does not lend itself to fixed price costing, other exceptions are made by insurance companies for payment in the case of longer term casemix averages.