Guideline for hospital admissions of less than 24 hours

Cases under the classification system also represent cases of less than 24 hours. The above is particularly typical in cases of:

• death of the patient in hospital before the actual hospitalisation exceeds 24 hours,
• cases classified in the JHS DRG groups,
• cases with no lower limit to the treatment period, followed by transfer of the patient to another healthcare facility or consistent with properly delivered care, as long as the patient is discharged home,
• other cases followed by transfer of the patient to another health facility or consistent with properly provided health care if the patient is discharged home.

The above does not contradict Section 9(1) of Act No 576/2004 Coll., as in the cases mentioned:

• for objective reasons, health care does not continue for more than 24 hours,
• the case is not classified as inpatient health care, as the classification system covers a broader spectrum of health care which it reimburses,
• the healthcare exceeds the 24-hour limit in another healthcare facility (where the specialised procedure was performed in another healthcare facility where the patient stayed for a necessary period of time of less than 24 hours, but the sum of the patient's stays in the healthcare facilities exceeds 24 hours),
• the healthcare requires the provision of healthcare in an inpatient healthcare facility, and there is no medical indication for the continuous provision of healthcare after the healthcare procedure has been provided.

This guidance will also be inserted in the Rules defining the calculation of the case-rate and the rules for the aggregation of hospitalisation cases.