HPA developed a new Australian Emergency Care Classification (AECC) to
replace the Urgency Related Groups (URGs) and the Urgency Disposition Groups (UDGs) to price emergency care. This study was used to identify individual variables contributing to the complexity of patients in emergency care, as reflected in costs, and then to determine how these would be used in combination to define end classes for the classification. The AECC was developed using a combination of statistical analysis and clinical input: the splits in the classification demonstrate statistical as well as clinical validity.
