Medical activity of the French internal medicine departments in 2000-2001 from the DRG system

PURPOSE: Medical activity of the French Internal Medicine Departments has been described until now only by limited declarative surveys. The aim of this study was to describe this activity using the French DRG system. METHODS: A postal survey was conducted using the list of the French Society of Internal Medicine. The same questionnaire was posted to 212 departments (university, public and private hospitals) to collect the 2000 or 2001 data from the DRG system. RESULTS: 192,197 reports were analysed. One hundred and eighty four groups were listed on a theoretical number of 313 medical groups. The first 10 groups concerned common general diseases (pneumonia, anaemia, heart failure, diabetes, stroke.). The main difference between university and non-university hospitals concerned the management of systemic diseases, which was more frequently quoted in university hospitals. Benign and malignant haematological diseases and oncology were frequently quoted in both types of hospitals. CONCLUSION: This study allows for the first time in France to have an objective survey of the medical activity of Internal Medicine Departments. It confirms that these departments have a central role in the hospital management of current diseases but also of haematological diseases and cancer. University departments are more specifically implicated in the management of systemic diseases.