ObjectivesZZThis study was conducted to investigate whether the charges associated with Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups for mental health inpatients adequately reflect the degree of medical resource consumption for inpatient treatment in the psychiatric ward. MethodsZZThis study was conducted with psychiatric inpatients data for 2014 from the National Health Insurance claim database. The main diagnoses required for admission, classification of the hospitals, and main treatment services were

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... yzed by examining descriptive statistics. Homogeneities of the major diagnostic criteria were assessed by calculating coefficient variances. Explanation power was determined by R 2 values. ResultsZZThe most frequent disorders for psychiatric inpatient treatment were alcohol-use disorder, depressive episodes, bipolar affective disorder, and dementia in Alzheimer's disease. Hospitalization and psychotherapy fees were the main medical expenses. Regardless of the homogeneity of the disease group, duration of hospital stay was the factor that most influenced medical expenses. In the psychiatric area, explanation power of Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups was 16.52% (p<0.05), which was significantly lower than that for other major diagnostic area. ConclusionZZMost psychiatric illnesses are chronic, and the density of services can vary depending on illness severity or associated complications. The current Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups criteria did not adequately represent the amount of in-hospital medical expenditures. A novel Korean classification system that reflects the expenditures of medical resources in psychiatric hospitals should be developed in order to provide appropriate reimbursements.