Section 4: Costs for Inpatient Hospital Stays (PDF)

EXHIBIT 4.1 Cost by Diagnosis (PDF)
EXHIBIT 4.2 Cost Factors Accounting for Growth by Diagnosis (PDF)
EXHIBIT 4.3 Cost by Age (PDF)
EXHIBIT 4.4 Cost by Payer (PDF)
EXHIBIT 4.5 Cost by Diagnostic Category (PDF)

• In 2009, the aggregate cost for all hospital stays was $361.5 billion.
• The top three conditions with the highest aggregate costs—septicemia, osteoarthritis, and coronary atherosclerosis—accounted for more than 11 percent of all hospital costs in 2009.
• When conditions were grouped by diagnostic category, the circulatory system accounted for the largest share of hospital costs (20 percent).
• Medicare, the single largest payer for hospitalizations in 2009, accounted for 46 percent of aggregate inpatient costs.
• Medicaid stays accounted for 15 percent of in-hospital costs.
• Private insurance was responsible for 30 percent of aggregate costs; the uninsured were responsible for 5 percent.
• The majority of costs for circulatory conditions (60 percent) were billed to Medicare. One-quarter of circulatory system costs (25 percent) were covered by private insurance.
• Between 1997 and 2009, inflation-adjusted aggregate costs for community hospital stays rose from $229.6 billion to $361.5 billion.
• Overall, growth in intensity of services accounted for 72 percent of the growth in aggregate costs, while population growth was responsible for 27 percent of total growth and an increased number of stays per population accounted for only 1.2 percent of growth.

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