• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

U.S. hospital bill approaches $800 billion

Case Management Weekly, October 11, 2006

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Case Management Weekly!

The country's hospital bill, representing 39 million hospital stays, totaled more than $790 billion in 2004, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Performance (AHRQ), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

According to the report, $500 billion, or 60% of the national hospital bill, went to federal and state governments for Medicare and Medicaid patients. The most expensive conditions for Medicare beneficiaries were pneumonia and osteoarthritis while treatments for pregnant mothers, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders were the most expensive conditions for Medicaid recipients.

The ARHQ report also indicates that

• one-fifth of the national hospital bill was for treatment of five conditions: coronary atherosclerosis, mother's pregnancy and delivery, newborn infants, acute myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure
• private insurers' biggest bills were for pregnancy and delivery, care of newborn infants, hardening of the heart arteries, heart attack, and back problems
• Brain trauma and stroke were among the most expensive conditions billed to uninsured patients

Source:Newswise; HHS.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Case Management Weekly!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive