As 2022 draws to a close and a new year is about to begin, it is time to reflect as well as look forward.
The highlight of the year was our 35th conference in Reykjavík, Iceland. The evaluation of the event confirmed what we saw and felt being there – high attendance and the wonderful buzz of being together in person again. In the evaluation, delegates scored almost all aspects of the conference with the highest rating of “Highly Satisfied”. But they also identified a few areas where we can improve, and we are building in these changes for our next conference.
In 2022 we also held a casemix school in Iceland. This is one of the PCSI’s new initiatives of running schools within countries to maximise local participation. More than 50 people attended from government agencies and hospitals.
In 2023 we have three schools planned in different parts of the world:
Details about our schools are on our website (www.pcsiinternational.org).
The 36th conference will be in 2024, in another spectacular location due to be announced soon! We are very excited about this and can’t wait to share the details with you.
The PCSI would like to thank the Nordic Casemix Centre who has partnered with us for our conferences. We would also like to thank the Icelandic Ministry of Health for the conference in Iceland and the National Casemix Center of Excellence for the KSA edition of the school.
In 2023 we will be looking to extend our partnerships with like-minded organisations and expand our networks to fulfill our mission of bringing together professionals across the world who use clinical coding and classification systems for funding and reimbursement, costing, risk adjustment, health services planning, measuring quality and safety, benchmarking and other purposes.
I would personally like to thank members of our Executive Committee, which include Brian McCarthy (Secretary), Alfa D'Amato (Vice President), Paula Monteith (Treasurer), Dana Burduja (Immediate Past President) and members Kristiina Kahur, Mark O'Connor, Prof. Dr. Michael Wilke, Mary Ethna Black, Janette Green, Jacob Hofdijk (Emeritus Secretary) and Jean Marie Rodrigues (Emeritus President). Without you, there would not be a PCSI!
On behalf of the PCSI, I wish you all a fulfilling 2023, and hope that you can join us for one or more of our events.
The annual conference is PCSI’s primary event where case mix researchers, analysts, government officials, etc. gather to discuss the latest in case mix. The annual conference provides an opportunity for participants to share and learn the latest in case-mix concepts from their peers through oral and poster presentation sessions, while also allowing an informal meeting of the minds of individuals from around the world. The annual conference not only provides a learning opportunity but also a socializing opportunity with friends and colleagues from around the globe.
PCSI encourages people to attend and present at the conference and provides various prizes for the valued ("best") papers and posters in the conference. A monetary prize is presented to each of the winners in recognition of the work that they have done.
A prize is given to the delegate/presenter of the best paper as judged by the scientific committee of the conference. Each paper is reviewed by a selection of the committee members and evaluated under the areas of "Originality", "Contribution to the field of case mix research/case mix implementation", "Rigour of methods" and "Implications for the field of research.". The delegate with the highest marks is presented with the prize. Note that authors may opt to not take part in this competition by choosing so as part of the abstract submission. Where an author takes part in the competition, they must submit the full paper in advance of the conference and will be notified of the submission date.
A prize is given to the presenter of the best poster as judged by the subset scientific committee of the conference. Each poster is reviewed by a selection of the committee members and the author is asked to give a short 2 minutes presentation on the poster. The winner of the prize is determined based on the poster’s content and the presentation by the author during the conference.
Innovation in casemix is highly prized by the PCSI and a special award is given for the abstract describing the most innovative way of providing or managing health care that has potential to improve the health of the population. Each abstract is reviewed by three members of the Scientific Committee to assess its suitability for the conference program. The reviewers also indicate whether it should be considered for the innovation prize. The winner is selected from a shortlist of the abstracts considered to be the most innovative. The Casemix Innovation prize is supported by Casemix By and Jacob Hofdijk, emeritus secretary of PCSI.
PCSI remains committed to providing newcomers to case mix with educational opportunities and as part of this offers twos schools on an annual basis.
The first school is called Casemix and Healthcare: What you need to know and do (formerly the Summer School). It was first hosted in Yale University in 1985 and continued to be held in Australia, Spain, UK, Italy, France(Avignon), Portugal and Estonia.
The second School is called Advanced Design and Implementation of Case-Mix Funding Models (formerly the Winter School) and it is focused on casemix-based funding systems and analytical methods. The school has been held in Dublin (2011 and 2012), Sydney (2013), Lisbon (2014 & 2015), Nicosia (2017) and Limassol (2018 & 2019).
The following is a comparison of the two schools
We hope the Resources Section of our website provides you with useful information, both about the organization as well as case-mix. In addition to posting our annual General Assembly Meeting Minutes here, we are now posting our Executive Committee meeting minutes. In time we hope to add more information related to case-mix issues and developments around the world.
If you have specific resources that you think would be beneficial to provide to the case-mix community, please share them with us by sending an e-mail to our President: Dana Burduja at dburduja@gmail.com .
The following are the charter documents for the assocation.
The work program 2017-2020 can be found here
PCSI operates a hardship fund to assist individuals with financial hardship to participate in the annual PCSI conference or the PCSI casemix schools. Details of the fund and how to apply for it can be found here.
PCSI operates a policy on disclosure of conflicts of interest. This can be download here.
After many discussions about the value of a collaborative association, including meetings in Paris in 1984 and Dublin in 1986, Patient Classifications Systems Europe (PCSE) was initially founded in 1987 in Lisbon. The organization created a network of researchers and users of the case mix concept from health administration, government agencies, and academia. From an initial focus on Diagnosis Related Group (DRGs), the association’s goals have expanded to include a broader interest in clustering and grouping techniques of clinical and administrative data for health care management and financing. The association has stimulated the use and refinement of the science of "grouping patients" within different levels of the health system.
Expansion of the organization throughout the world brought a name change from PCSE to Patient Classification Systems International (PCSI). It is the only worldwide organization addressing case-mix issues. In the last years the annual international conference has brought together a growing number of active participants from all over the world. From a group of six “idealists” from Western Europe and the United States, the organization has now grown to hundreds of members from 5 continents. The organization puts on one annual conference and offers educational opportunities through our summer and winter School programs.
PCSI hosts a few key events each year, including an annual conference and two case mix schools. In addition, we offer newsletters and are exploring other opportunities for our members to share experiences and information throughout the year.
The annual conference is PCSI’s primary event where case mix researchers, analysts, government officials, etc. gather to discuss the latest in case mix. The annual conference provides an opportunity for participants to share and learn the latest in case-mix concepts from their peers through oral and poster presentation sessions, while also allowing an informal meeting of the minds of individuals from around the world. The annual conference not only provides a learning opportunity but also a socializing opportunity with friends and colleagues from around the globe.
PCSI also offers two educational events for a limited number of participants. The "Casemix and Healthcare: What you need to know and do" (formerly the Summer School) is for those new to case mix to immerse themselves in all aspects of case mix over a period of one week. This school has been offered for over 30 years and has drawn individuals from all over the world and is considered the best in case-mix learning. The "Advanced Design and Implementation of Case-Mix Funding Models" (formerly the Winter School) was first offered in January 2011 and is again being offered in 2019 with a focus on casemix based funding and analytical methods.
PCSI membership provides networking opportunities for like-minded professionals in the international case mix arena, as well as access to a wide range of experts on a global scale. Members are also able to receive conference materials including presentations from the annual PCSI conference. Colleagues who wish to subscribe to PCSI membership without attending the annual conference can pay a membership fee of 60 euros per annum. Those interested should contact the PCSI Secretary secretary@pcsinternational.org to receive instructions regarding payment of membership fees.
PCSI operates a hardship fund to assist individuals with financial hardship to participate in the annual PCSI conference or the PCSI casemix schools. Details of the fund and how to apply for it can be found here.
Executive Committee 2017 - Click for larger version
Back: Brian McCarthy, Jacob Hofdijk, Alfa D'Amato, Mark O'Connor, Michael Wilke, Kristiina Kahur
Front: Mary E Black, Dana Burduja, Deniza Mazevska, Kevin Ratcliffe, Janette Green, Jean Marie Rodrigues
Elections for positions in the Executive Coomittee occur at annual conferences. Members are elected to the Executive Committee for four years (unless there are exceptional circumstances).
The PCSI runs a conference every year and every attendee of the conference joins the organisation for a year
PCSI membership provides networking opportunities for like-minded professionals in the international case mix arena, as well as access to a wide range of experts on a global scale. Members are also able to receive conference materials including presentations from the annual PCSI conference. Colleagues who wish to subscribe to PCSI membership without attending the annual conference can pay a membership fee of 60 euros per annum. Those interested should contact the PCSI Secretary to receive instructions regarding payment of membership fees.
Organisations wishing to become corporate PCSI sponsors can do so for an annual fee. In addition to the membership benefits outlined above, corporate sponsorship grants an 10% discount for the PCSI annual Conference and all schools held within-year. Annual corporate membership will run for one year from the date of receipt of the membership fee. Fees are dependent on organisation size, and for the 2015/16 membership year are limited to:
If you have any questions about PCSI and your membership. Get in touch. We are more than happy to answer any questions you have.
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Secretary PCS/I – Brian McCarthy |
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