Hospital tally approaches $1 trillion

U.S. hospitals charged $873 billion in 2005 — a nearly 90 percent increase from the $462 billion charged in 1997 — according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The inflation-adjusted 2005 bill represents the amount charged for 39 million hospital stays.

With an average annual growth rate in hospital charges of 4.5 percent, researchers predict the bill will reach $1 trillion by 2008.

AHRQ also found:

-Medicare paid $411 billion of the national bill, followed by private insurance ($272 billion) and Medicaid ($124 billion). 

-The uninsured accounted for $38 billion. 

This is taken from the AHRQ report:

Table 1. Top 20 most expensive conditions treated in U.S. hospitals, 2005

Rank

Principal diagnosis

Total national hospital bill (millions)

Percentage of national hospital bill

Number of hospital stays (thousands)

1

Coronary artery disease

$45,985

5.3%

1,110

2

Mother’s pregnancy and delivery

$43,925

5.0%

4,712

3

Newborn infants

$35,316

4.0%

4,429

4

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI, heart attack)

$31,946

3.7%

662

5

Congestive heart failure (CHF)

$30,230

3.5%

1,090

6

Pneumonia

$29,535

3.4%

1,355

7

Osteoarthritis

$26,157

3.0%

738

8

Complication of device, implant or graft

$25,291

2.9%

616

9

Sepsis

$24,801

2.8%

538

10

Back pain (spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, other back problems)

$20,327

2.3%

647

11

Respiratory failure, insufficiency, arrest (adult)

$19,723

2.3%

336

12

Cardiac dysrhythmias

$17,224

2.0%

697

13

Acute cerebrovascular disease (stroke)

$17,060

2.0%

526

14

Rehabilitation care, fitting of prostheses, and adjustment of devices

$13,848

1.6%

517

15

Complications of surgical procedures or medical care

$13,316

1.5%

463

16

Gall bladder disease

$11,719

1.3%

456

17

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

$11,506

1.3%

630

18

Diabetes mellitus with complications

$11,171

1.3%

491

19

Hip fracture

$10,869

1.2%

317

20

Nonspecific chest pain

$10,027

1.1%

825

Total for top 20 conditions

$449,976

51.5%

21,155

Total for all hospitalizations

$873,236

100.0%

39,164

Source: AHRQ, Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 2005.

For more health and medical news and commentary, read The Medicine Bag blog at http://blog.newsok.com/health.  

Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer

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Comments

There are new medicare plans for 2008. I would strongly recommend reviewing your current plan each year as there are sometimes dramatic differences. If you think outside the box you will find some great health plans. The big companies such as Blue Cross will charge whatever they want because they assume people will just go with the name and they spend a ton of money on advertising which reflects in the premiums and benefits. If you look at some other companies you may be pleasantly surprised with the benefits you will find.

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