what is the exactly relationship between the diagnoses priority and the treatment in MIMIC-III?

Question

What is the exactly relationship between the diagnoses priority and the treatment in MIMIC-III?

The website mentions:

SEQ_NUM provides the order in which the ICD diagnoses relate to the patient. ICD diagnoses are ordered by priority - and the order does have an impact on the reimbursement for treatment.

in the diagnoses_icd table in MIMC-III.

I want to know how the priority impact the treatment exactly. Does the diagnoses with HIGH priority (seq_num with large number) will be treated as the major (the most important) diagnoses or the one with LOW priority (small number)?

Answer 1

I want to know how [how] the priority impact[s] the treatment exactly.

The ICD codes are used for billing and do not impact treatment. This is an important point to understand when carrying out research using databases such as MIMIC.

[Is] the diagnoses with HIGH priority (seq_num with large number) treated as the major (the most important) diagnoses or the one with LOW priority (small number)?

My understanding, based on conversations with nursing staff at the hospital, is that the first number in the sequence (seq_num = 1) generally indicates the primary diagnosis, which is often the reason for admission. The order of later codes in the sequence (seq_num = 2+) has less significance and indicates additional diagnoses relevant for billing.