AR-DRGs
The Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (AR-DRG) classification provides a clinically meaningful way to group together treatments and services provided for admitted acute episodes of care to enable hospitals to be funded for these services using activity based funding.
Episodes of admitted acute care are assigned disease and intervention codes by health information managers or clinical coders. AR-DRGs are then assigned based on these codes and a number of other routinely collected variables such as age, separation mode, length of stay, same-day status, admission weight for neonates and hours of mechanical ventilation.
This process of assigning patient episodes to an AR-DRG is complex and is carried out using software that contains the AR-DRG algorithms, referred to as a 'grouper'.
AR-DRGs are used to calculate public hospital funding on an activity basis. They are also used for:
- performance management
- benchmarking
- funding agreements between private hospitals and insurers
- education
- epidemiology
- research into the quality of healthcare and patient safety
- health service planning.
The AR-DRG classification system is currently updated every 3 years along with the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification, Australian Classification of Health Interventions, Australian Coding Standards (ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS). Both classification systems are updated on a regular basis to ensure they are fit for purpose and remain clinically current. Recent releases are outlined below.
| Classification system | Release date | Implementation date |
|---|---|---|
| AR-DRG Version 10.0 | Mid 2019 | July 2020 |
| AR-DRG Version 11.0 | Mid 2022 | July 2023 |
| AR-DRG Version 12.0 | Mid 2025 | Proposed to be implemented 1 July 2026 |
AR-DRG previous versions
IHACPA in consultation with stakeholders, has advised the timeline for the phasing out of the support for older versions of the AR-DRG classification in use in Australia.
From 1 July 2025 AR-DRG Version 8.0 (and any versions prior to this) are not supported. For further information refer to the External software vendors section on the Products and licenses page.
Requests for content change
You can suggest changes to the AR-DRG and ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS classification systems through the Australian Classification Exchange (ACE).
We encourage you to learn more about the submission guidelines before making a submission.
Key links
- Australian Classification Exchange (ACE)
- Product and licence information
- Purchase classification products
- Fact sheets – AR-DRG classification
- Governance Framework for the Development of the Admitted Care Classifications
Last updated: 29 July 2025