The Major Diagnostic Category (MDC) appropriate for the date of discharge is assigned by the HCFA DRG Grouper algorithm during HCUP processing. For MDC_NOPOA, the MDC assignment is made without the use of the present on admission (POA) flags for the diagnoses. MDC_NoPOA and the Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) calculated without POA indicators (DRG_NoPOA) are useful because the lack of POA flags from many states prevents the assignment of the standard MDC and DRG for a few DRGs involving Hospital Acquired Conditions (HAC). See the general note under the HCUP variable DRG for more information about the assignment of DRGs.

Labels: Labels for the MDCs and MDC_NoPOA are provided as an ASCII file in HCUP Tools: Labels and Formats.