Current definition:  Criteria used to classify populations into one or more characteristics, variables, or other categories. As subsets of the overall population, stratifications are used in risk adjustment, analysis and interpretation. Examples of stratification include age, discharge status for an inpatient stay, facility location within a hospital (e.g., ICU, Emergency Department), surgical procedures, and specific conditions.

Issue:  Stratification is a method or form of risk adjustment, not soemthing that is "used in" risk adjustment.

CMS' and the Joint Commission's common defintion (found in the Specifications Manual for National Hospital Inpatient Quality Measures):  Stratification - A form of risk adjustment which involves classifying data into strata based on one or more characteristics, variables, or other categories.

Suggested definition:

Criteria used to classify populations into one or more characteristics, variables, or other categories. *These As* subsets of the overall population, or stratifications, are a form of used in risk adjustment, and are used in analysis and interpretation. Examples of stratification include age, discharge status for an inpatient stay, facility location within a hospital (e.g., ICU, Emergency Department), surgical procedures, and specific conditions.