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. |
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For more health and medical news and commentary, read The Medicine Bag blog at http://blog.newsok.com/health.
Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer
Oklahoma is No. 1
This week’s winter storm was record-setting for Oklahoma. And not for the right reason.
When President Bush signed earlier this week an emergency disaster declaration for all 77 counties, it marked the eighth time this year that federal disaster aid has been made available to public entities and citizens via a presidential declaration.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is responsible for responding to, recovering from and mitigating against disasters, no other state has had as many presidential disaster declaration in one calendar year.
“We’re just so disaster savvy, it’s scary,” Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, told The Associated Press.
FEMA spokesman Earl Armstrong told AP that most states don’t usually have to endure as many disasters as Oklahoma experienced in 2007.
Call it a badge of honor. Call it what you like.
Just don’t call it an award Oklahomans would have wanted to win.
Presidential disaster declarations for Oklahoma in 2007:
— Jan. 15: For severe winter storms and flooding throughout Oklahoma starting on Jan. 12 (emergency declaration)
— Feb. 1: For severe winter storm in three counties in the Panhandle from Dec. 28-30, 2006
— Feb. 1: For severe winter storms affecting 46 counties from Jan. 12-26
— June 7: For severe storms, tornadoes and flooding affecting 17 counties from May 4-11
— July 7: For severe storms, flooding and tornadoes affecting 29 counties from June 10-July 25
— Aug. 24: For severe storms, tornadoes and flooding affecting 22 counties from Aug. 18-Sept. 12
— Aug. 31: For severe storms, flooding and tornadoes affecting nine counties from May 24-June 1
— Dec. 10: For severe winter storms throughout Oklahoma starting on Dec. 8 (emergency declaration)
Source: FEMA
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
“Paws” and effect
My dog has started to adjust to her paws working like ice skates on the lawn. My fish, on the other hand, just couldn’t adjust to the cold.
The pets gave me two more things to worry about during the storm and the power outage at home.
Most important was finding a warm place to stay where Carly would be welcome. I’m extremely grateful to the family that took us in Monday night after we lost power, but my four-legged little girl was distressed there, and with reports at the time that power restoration could take as long as 10 days, I knew we couldn’t stay.
I took her to the kennel Tuesday morning while I figured out what our next step would be. Turns out the next step would just be down the street.
A friend with power offered us a spot in his house. Our dogs play well together and the location is convenient if I need to run home for a change of clothes, so it’s probably the best arrangement for us right now.
But when I went to check on our house and feed my betta, Dr. Seuss — well, he was floating in the water.
This storm is all about adjusting to the situation, and pets can make that a bit more complicated.
How are you and your furry, feathery or scaly friends coping with the changes?
Let me know at wkleinman@oklahoman.com or 475-3637.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Staff Writer
Winter Not-So-Wonderland
There’s nothing like a disaster to bring out the spirit of cooperation and the chainsaws.
On Monday morning, crumpled parts of once beautiful trees blocked five of the six roads leading out of my neighborhood east of the
University of
Oklahoma campus in
Norman. One block in particular was a jumble of limbs, some as thick around as an oil drum. There, residents, at least one with a chainsaw, joined forces, working most of the day to untangle and clear their street.
On another street, I saw several people trying to clear the road of limbs with handsaws. I knew then that my chainsaw — that screeching two-stroker that had just helped clear my driveway and that of a neighbor of fallen oak tree limbs — must do its part. Returning with the saw after the others who were here had left, I hacked at the limbs blocking the street. Before I was halfway through moving them, another guy driving a pickup pulled up and began helping haul them to the side. Turns out he was considering buying a home in the neighborhood and had been just passing through that morning.
Most residents in this heavily wooded addition had their own adventures with falling limbs. Limbs landed on my roof, on the neighbor’s roof and on power lines connected to each of our houses. I helped the neighbor clear limbs from her power line and propped up supports beneath a giant cracked limb that had stretched but not severed my home’s power line. With each limb that leaped to its death, there were the same sounds. First there was the sharp, echoing pop that reminded me of cracking ice of glaciers in
Alaska, followed by the sound of falling ice and debris and the thud of whatever it landed on.
In my backyard, that was almost me. As I stood in front of a storage shed, a 35-foot cedar tree gave way and, fortunately, landed across the top of the shed instead of my head. My shivering at that point had little to do with the ice that showered down on me.
David Zizzo, Staff Writer
A cold night without electricity turned into a fun adventure for my grandsons, Chandler Walker, 14, and his brothers, Calvin, 9, and Cole, who turns 7 today. When the electricity went out in their Norman home and there was no dinner, my daughter Michelle Walker cooked a “campfire” dinner in the fireplace.
She used a cast iron skillet to make spaghetti, ground beef, and sauce.
The kids bundled up in extra clothes, and after dinner they roasted marshmallows on the fire.
“We had fun doing this, and the kids just loved it,” Michelle said. “We made a memory with this. We put batteries in the radio and listened to Christmas music.”
It was a relaxing family night, and they appreciated the quiet in a way they didn’t expect. A bath by candlelight was another adventure for the kids.
Chris Jones
I learned about 5:30 p.m. Monday that the electricity was off at the home of my 79-year-old mother in
Tulsa. She cannot see well enough to drive after dark, the roads were too slick for her to get out of her home to go elsewhere, and officials were predicting the power could be off for a week or more. So my wife and I decided to take the chance on the threat of icy roads and drive to Tulsa to “rescue” Mom and bring her back to
Oklahoma City, where our home still had power.
We saw a half-dozen salt trucks keeping the Turner Turnpike drivable during our trip. But the darkness and fog along the 90-mile stretch was eerie. All of the turnpike’s rest areas were dark, with only the parking lights of semi-trucks marking their locations. News accounts had indicated about 70 percent of
Tulsa was without electrical service, and the temperature was holding near freezing. Entering the outskirts of
Tulsa, pockets of light accented the darkened city. But most striking to me was that upon arriving at the edge of the city, heavy in the air was the smell of burning wood — it was as if all the residential fireplaces in
Tulsa must have been in use at the same time!
Don P. Brown, Features copy editor
The weekly news quiz
It’s time to see how much attention you’ve been paying to the news in the past week or so. From The Oklahoman’s news copy editors and designers, here’s a quiz:
1. Re-creation of World War II battles in Pauls Valley will take place:
a) In a field outside town with re-enactors.
b) At a main intersection with re-enactors in buildings, as well.
c) In a toy museum.
2. An inmate in Indiana escaped from a work-release crew after he created a distraction for guards with:
a) A trash fire.
b) An overflowing toilet.
c) A fight.
3. Oklahoma cornerback Reggie Smith won’t play in the Fiesta Bowl against West Virginia because:
a) He broke a big toe.
b) He suffered a knee over-extension.
c) He suffered a concussion.
4. The biggest-ever conference on climate change opened last week with about 10,000 conferees, activists and journalists from nearly 190 countries. Where did they meet?
a) Bali, Indonesia.
b) New York City.
c) London.
5. Which singer, who plays the title character in the “Hannah Montana” show on the Disney Channel, performed a concert last week in Oklahoma City?
a) Britney Spears.
b) Miley Cyrus.
c) Carrie Underwood.
6. A state law that took effect Nov. 1 requires what before a speed-trap designation can be placed on small communities?
a) That public complaints go through elected officials before investigation.
b) Proof that a rival town did not turn the targeted town in for investigation.
c) That online voters select which towns are speed traps on the Department of Public Safety’s Web site.
7. Unless the Legislature changes state statutes, V. Burns Hargis can’t start his new job as Oklahoma State University president until when?
a) January.
b) July.
c) August.
8. Why are some charities refusing toy donations this holiday season?
a) They have plenty left over from last year.
b) A new law prohibits them from accepting foreign-made toys.
c) They are concerned about toys that have been recalled.
9. Merchants have identified the Teaposy as a unique gift this holiday season. What is a Teaposy?
a) A dozen tea roses.
b) A personalized love poem included with a box of tea.
c) A tea-infused flower that appears to bloom while brewing in a glass pot.
10. Who won college football’s 2007 Heisman Trophy?
a) Darren McFadden of Arkansas.
b) Tim Tebow of Florida.
c) Chase Daniel of Missouri.
11. Beginning next year, travelers will need something they don’t need now when re-entering the United States by sea. What is it?
a) Letter of reference from employer, family member or banker.
b) Proof from the IRS that they paid their taxes while away.
c) A passport, which has already been required from air travelers.
12. Before OSU’s bowl game in 2004, Les Miles said he was staying at Oklahoma State, only to later leave for LSU. What bowl was it?
a) Texas Bowl.
b) Alamo Bowl.
c) Cotton Bowl.
13. U.S. military commanders in which part of Iraq asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week for more troops to battle increased attacks by al-Qaida terrorists?
a) Northern.
b) Southern.
c) Eastern.
14. What device soon could be used to pay for parking at the Tulsa’s airport?
a) Pikepass.
b) Cell phone.
c) Keyless vehicle entry remotes.
15. As the Senate’s session ends, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, has warned he will block bills that expand the size or cost of government. How many bills is he already stalling?
a) More than 150.
b) 95.
c) Not quite 10.
16. Wheels Up!, a business run by Oklahoma City nurse and entrepreneur Beverly Smith, sells:
a) A snack mix of pecans, pretzels and cereal drizzled in chocolate.
b) Customized wheels to make walkers move more smoothly.
c) Trick exercise bicycles.
17. How many USS Oklahoma crew members died in the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?
a) 429.
b) 1,634.
c) 303.
18. When Kitty Ernst portrayed Mary, mother of Jesus, in a 1964 nativity pageant, something unusual happened. What was it?
a) One of the heifers calved.
b) A donkey bit her.
c) A camel tore down the set.
19. Atlantis’ launch was postponed after a pair of fuel gauges in its external tank failed to work properly. If the shuttle doesn’t lift off soon, it won’t have another opportunity until:
a) Christmas Day.
b) Early January.
c) Next summer.
20. A court order has forbidden Moffet police from doing what?
a) Patrolling highways that stretch from the town to the Arkansas state line.
b) Attending holiday parties because more officers are needed during this time of year.
c) Shopping at local stores in uniform.
How did you do on the quiz? Here are the correct answers:
1-C; 2-B; 3-A; 4-A; 5-B; 6-A; 7-B; 8-C; 9-C; 10-B; 11-C; 12-B; 13-A; 14-A; 15-B; 16-A; 17-A; 18-B; 19-B; 20-A.
Another week has passed, and here is your chance to catch up on some ot what you might have missed.
History Center hosting holiday activities
The Oklahoma History Center, 2401 N Laird in Oklahoma City, will celebrate the holiday season with special events for families on Saturday, Dec. 6. Activities include crafts, games, songs and traditional holiday customs from various cultures and time periods. Children may have their photographs taken with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. Mrs. Claus will read cultural Christmas stories and serve cookies and hot cocoa.
Programs are free with paid admission.
Activity schedule:
– 10 a.m.: Caroling with Bishop McGuinness High School’s choir
– 11 a.m.: Photographs, cookies and hot cocoa with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus
– noon: Holiday music featuring Putnam City High Schoo’s show choir
– 1 p.m.: Traditional period dances with Martha Ray
– 2 p.m.: Traditional holiday crafts with Martha Ray
– 3 p.m.: Photographs, cookies and hot cocoa with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus
– 4 p.m.: Traditional games
Click for information or call 522-5248.
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
Elderly predicted to crowd emergency rooms
Rates of visits by the elderly to emergency rooms are outpacing those of other groups, which could lead to “catastrophic overcrowding,” according to a study this week in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
“Seniors are using the emergency department more and more frequently, and given the needs of this population and the nature of their medical problems, the current state of overcrowding is likely to continue to escalate dramatically,” Dr. Mary Pat McKay of The George Washington University Medical Center said in a press release. “These patients tend to be sicker and are more likely to be admitted from the emergency department to the hospital, but with many hospitals running a deficit of inpatient beds, I don’t see where these patients are going to go.”
Researchers studied ER visits from 1993 to 2003, and found that visits per 100 people 65 and older increased faster than the visit rate for any other age group, with an overall increase of 26 percent during the study period.
“People aged 65 and older are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. As emergency patients, they use the most resources, stay the longest, and are the most likely to be admitted to the hospital of all emergency patients. Researchers conclude that emergency department visits in the United States for patients between 65 and 74 could nearly double from 6.4 million in 2003 to 11.7 million by 2013,” according to the release.
AARP Policy Director John Rother called on elected officials to “heed the warnings” of the report and recognize that the health care system must deliver appropriate, affordable care.
“The trends released today underscore the need to make sure emergency departments can meet the demand for care by older people, but we also need a better understanding of why emergency room use by older people is on the rise and why these patients may not be getting care from their personal physicians,” he said in the release.
The study suggests older Americans are having more genuine emergencies, rather than increasingly visiting the emergency department.
For health and medical news and commentary, visit The Medicine Bag blog at http://blog.newsok.com/health.
Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer
A Cure for the ‘Mondays’
OK, you go into your office and suffer from a bad case of the “Mondays.” You know the feeling. Worse yet, it’s Thursday!
How do you cure it?
The answer just might be a big bouquet of flowers, according to an e-mail that landed in my mailbox this week. The e-mail’s author cited a Harvard University study that allegedly confirmed that people reported being happier and more energetic after looking at flowers first thing in the morning.
“The morning blahs, it turns out, is a real phenomenon, with positive moods – happiness, friendliness and warmth, for example – manifesting much later in the day,” says lead researcher Nancy Etcoff. “Interestingly, when we placed a small bouquet of flowers into their morning routines, people perked up.”
OK, I guess that works for some people.
For my dad back in the day, it was always that first cigarette and cup of coffee that did the trick.
For me, it’s that first episode of SpongeBob that airs on the cable channel at 7 a.m.
Nowhere in this floral mood-brightening e-mail does it say that the study was sponsored by a big national flower association, but I have my suspicions.
Anyway, maybe the photograph above, provided by the About Flowers Web site – www.aboutflowers.com — will brighten your day and chase away the “Mondays.”
Jim Stafford
Business Writer
Dreaming of a green Christmas
Much of our business department’s focus during this time of year is on retail businesses, which depend heavily on the shopping season. However, we also try to balance that coverage with personal finance articles designed to educate consumers on the dangers of overspending, fraud and the increasing hazards designed to empty our wallets.
Today I saw a great reminder of the dangers of the season for consumers on Joseph Sangl’s financial freedom blog (via The Consumerist). A couple cut up their credit cards, and used the plastic pieces to pledge financial sanity.
Even though I write some personal finance stories, I’m not immune to the seduction of a good deal or an innovative product. Recently I bought what I consider to be one of the great inventions of our time. As the parent of four children, I have spent endless hours matching socks. It is a neverending and ultimately frustrating task as a large pile of unpaired socks always remains. Enter the Sock Pro.
These little rubber rings keep socks paired up through the washing and drying process. I bought 60 of the doo-dads in three different colors for $15, and they work. It’s a joy to simply stack pairs of socks as you pull them out of the dryer.
I bought my Sock Pro gadgets online, but I’d love to know if any local retailers stock these.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
