Costs for Hospital Stays in the U.S. for 2010

Numbers have been released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on costs for hospital stays in 2010. Here are some highlights from the briefing:

• Average cost for a hospital stay was $9700, with a total national tab of $375.9 billion in 2010.
• Adults age 45 and over accounted for about two-thirds of total national hospital costs
• Circulatory conditions accounted for the biggest share of hospital costs – nearly one-fifth.
• Septicemia was the most costly condition on an aggregate basis, totaling $17.1 billion for the year.

Source: Pfuntner A and others. Costs for hospital stays in the United States, 2010. HCUP [Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project] Statistical Brief [Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality], no. 146, Jan. 2013. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb146.pdf

Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org