DAE Return Codes (Error reporting)

It has come to our attention that the Grouper Return Code (GRC) documentation did not survive the transition to the new web site, so we will include it here (where it probably should have been all along).

Code	Description	Code	Description
1	Bad principal diagnosis	6	Unspecified DRG error
2	Bad prin dx for MDC	7	Invalid prin diagnosis
3	Invalid age	8	No DRG file this version
4	Invalid sex	9	HAC violation
5	Invalid discharge status	10	Error in DRG file

GRC Explanations

• Error 1 means EITHER that there were no diagnosis codes given or that the given principal dx code does not have an MDC (ie is not valid as a principal dx).
• Error 2 means no DRG could be found to match MDC and principal dx.
• Error 3 means that the given age was not between 0-124.
• Error 4 means that the given sex was not 1=male or 2=female
• Error 5 is no longer used; Discharge Status is defaulted depending on various factors (disposition status coding system, eg)
• Error 6 depends on various factors; for example, for some DRG versions this means that birthweight was not between 200 and 9000 grammes.
• Error 7 means that the principal dx code was not a valid choice as a primary diagnosis; the code may be valid, but it is not an allowed starting point for assigning a DRG.
• Error 8 means that the DRG masks file could not be found or initialized by the run-time environment.
• Error 9 means that the given case requires HAC processing but has a problem (invalid or missing POA data)
• Error 10 means that the DRG masks file has internal structural errors.

If you want access to descriptions for your errors, you can call either errdesc() in the C world or mherrdesc() in the VB world.

NOTE: at least in v33, CMS sometimes calls the Grouper with an invalid exempt flag value (2) to intentionally generate GRC=9

In addition, starting with version 33, the VB-callable DLL returns pre-grouping errors which are < 0 to let you know that they are not from the DAE:

• -2 Age parameter is missing 
• -3 Version parameter is missing
• -4 Version parameter not support by this DLL
• -5 Masks directory parameter is missing
• -6 Version could not be initialized (missing, unreadable or invalid masks file?)
• -7 Version could be be initialized, call errdesc() or mherrdesc() as appropriate
• -8 Sex parameter is missing