Medical Staff

Hospital care makes up largest portion of healthcare spending at $1.2 trillion

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, March 22, 2011

Making up the largest share (31%) of U.S. healthcare spending, hospital charges totaled $1.2 trillion in 2008 for inpatient hospitalizations, according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) report released this month.

These charges included 39.9 million hospital stays (excluding hospital outpatient care, emergency care for nonadmitted patients, and physician fees for admissions). Medicare and Medicaid absorbed 60% of the national hospital bill.

The most expensive conditions (in order) are pregnancy and newborn delivery, sepsis, coronary artery disease, newborn infant care, and osteoarthritis.

View the full report here.

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