OBJECTIVES Diagnosis-related Group (DRG) classification as a normative health financing system, has been used by the National Health Insurance Fund Administration (NHIFA) in Hungary since 1993. In the intensive care in our DRG system it can frequently occur that real cost exceed the reimbursement. In the view of the intensive care, the case mix index (CMI) correlate the reimbursement. A 10 years run of the CMI was analyzed comparing the global mean CMI of all recognized specialties to the mean CMI of the intensive therapy. METHODS Using the data of the NHIFA between 1995 and 2005, the CMI of the intensive therapy treatment was compared to the mean CMI of all recognized medical specialties. RESULTS The case-mix index of intensive care units increased from 1.69 in 1995 to 4.79 in 2005, while the average case-mix index of all medical specialties increased moderately from 1.08 in 1995 to 1.11 in 2005. In the first two years, in 1995 and in 1996, the CMI of the intensive therapy was 56% more than the global mean. But in 1997, a sudden great increase happened to 165% and after that to 197% in 1998 and finally to 250% in 1999. From the year 2000, the rise of CMI was between 1.5% and 22.8% from year to year increasing to 333%. During these 10 years, the changing of the global mean CMI of the all specialties was only 2.5%. CONCLUSIONS In Hungary between 1995 and 2005, while the CMI of all recognized specialties increased only 2.5%, the biggest change happened in the intensive specialty. The CMI increased from 1.6 to 4.8 weight-number which means a 300% rise. During this time, the reimbursement of one weight-number runs high too.