In response to recent requests, a copy of the PowerPoint presentation on this topic given at the Spring 2004 BNMS meeting has been made available for us.

Members should note that this has been prepared by an independent management consultant and does not therefore have the formal endorsement of the BNMS.

Click here for access to the presentation.

The HRG4 2009/10 Road Test Grouper is now available, to support the 2009/10 Road Test tariff produced by DH. This is to be used for prospectively road testing local reimbursement calculations for the 2009/10 financial year. The current payment HRG Grouper - version 'HRG v3.5 2008/09 Local Payment' and associated Spell Converter - version '3.2.1' are still to be used for local reimbursement calculations for remainder of the 2008/09 financial year.

The Road Test grouper should be used in conjunction with the Guide to File Preparation, which explains how data should be sorted and presented for processing by the grouper. This and other guidance documents, including a set of Frequently Asked Questions for HRG4, can also be downloaded from the Prepare for HRG4 area of the website.

The HRG Grouper is used to assign Healthcare Resource Groups (HRGs) to data input from a patient record. This release of HRG4 2009/10 Road Test continues to support all definition schemes supported by HRG v3.5 2008/09 Local Payment.

For queries about HRG4 or the grouper, please call The NHS IC's Contact Centre on 0845 300 6016 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For queries about the 2009/10 Road Test Tariff, in the first instance, please contact PbR Comms at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Users that wish to road test the tariff for the 2009/10 financial year should download version 'HRG4 2009/10 Road Test Grouper'. As with previous releases, the local grouper does not accommodate PbR exclusions or designated providers for Specialised Service Code derivation.

Episodes that are out of the scope of PbR should therefore be removed from the input data prior to running through the local grouper. Those organisations that choose not to remove exclusion data may generate an HRG4 that is a PbR exclusion.

Please note:

- Data for local reimbursement calculations for the 2008/09 financial year are still to be processed using HRG Grouper version HRG v3.5 2008/09 Local Payment Grouper and Spell Converter version 3.2.1.

- The user manual is installed with the grouper application. You will need Acrobat Reader to open this document.

- HRG4 groupers do not process fixed-width data

- Under HRG4 there is no requirement for a separate spell converter, as this functionality is accommodated within the grouper software itself.

- Although appropriate output files are produced, there is no reporting feature in any of the Payment suite of HRG4 groupers.

The Grouper can be downloaded via: NHS

External Quality Assessment (EQA) is designed to provide objective evidence of the quality of individual investigations and analyses and is essential for clinical laboratories.EQAS's have developed over the past 20 years and are now available from a range of providers covering most clinical laboratory services. 

As a result of the testing of the HRG4 2009/10 Local Payment Grouper, Known Issue 3, as detailed in the HRG4 2008/09 Reference Costs Grouper Known Issues Log on the NHS IC Casemix website, has been re-assessed as critical.

A collaborative decision has therefore been made with the Department of Health Payment by Results team to remove the HRG4 2008/09 Reference Costs Grouper previously made available on the IC Casemix website, resolve the issue and re-release the HRG4 2008/09 Reference Costs Grouper as soon as feasible.

Whilst this issue is not expected to impact upon the current Reference Costs collection timetable, the Department of Health Payment by Results team will continue to review the situation and take appropriate action if necessary.We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience that this may cause.

For queries about 2008/09 Reference Costs, in the first instance, please contact your Strategic Health Authority Reference Costs lead.