Medical technology in the category “supplies and devices” was found to be the key driver in the increase in cost of inpatient hospital care in this study comparing 2001 and 2006 data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases. This category alone accounted for 24.2 percent of the increase in average cost per discharge. Changes in intensive care unit cost of care accounted for another 17.6 percent.
Source: Maeda, J.L.K., Raetzman, S.O., and Friedman, B.S. What hospital inpatient services contributed the most to the 2001-2006 growth in the cost per case? HSR. Health Services Research;47(5):1814-1835, Oct. 2012. Click here for publisher’s website: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hesr.2012.47.issue-5/issuetoc Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org
Filed under: Hospital costs, Posted by Kim Garber, Technology | Tagged: Cost of health care, Cost of hospital care, hospital cost drivers |
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