The patient was admitted with possible CVA. The CT and MRI were negative. The discharge diagnosis was TIA. What DRG would this be assigned?

• A. DRG 69
• B. DRG 65
• C. DRG 66
• D. DRG 67

Answer: (A)

DRG assignment hinges on the clinical diagnosis that drives the admission and the level of resources used. When imaging does not show an acute infarct or hemorrhage and the discharge diagnosis is a transient ischemic attack, the case is classified as a TIA rather than an acute stroke. That places it in a non-surgical neurology DRG designed for TIAs, which in this coding scheme corresponds to DRG 69. The other DRGs would be used for cases with definite stroke (infarction) or hemorrhage or for scenarios with higher resource use or surgical intervention, which aren’t indicated here.