Hospital Costs of Firearm Assaults

A new Urban Institute report examines the hospital costs of firearm assaults in the U.S. based on 2010 data. About half of all firearm-related visits to the emergency department are due to an assault. Here are some numbers from the report:

• “In 2010, there were 36,341 ED visits (11.8 visits per 100,000 people) and 25,024 hospitalizations [8.1 visits per 100,000 people] due to firearm assault injuries.”
• “Total firearm assault injury cost for US hospitals in 2010 was just under $630 million.”
• Males accounted for 91% of the firearm assault injury costs, with the 15-34 age range responsible for 69% of costs.
• Just over half of the hospital costs incurred were for those with public insurance, primarily Medicaid, and another 28% of the costs were for the uninsured.
• Over half of hospital costs involved patients living in zip codes with the lowest income quartile.

Sources:

Howell EM and Abraham P. The hospital costs of firearm assaults. Urban Institute, Sept. 2013. http://www.urban.org/publications/412894.html

Cuellar AE and others. Hospital visits in the U.S. for firearm-related injuries, 2009. HCUP Statistical Brief [Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality] no. 136, June 2012. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb136.pdf

Related resources:

FastStats: Assault or homicide. National Center for Health Statistics, accessed Sept. 19, 2013 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm

Violence prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed Sept. 19, 2013 at http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/

Reducing violence in our communities. American Hospital Association, Sept. 2013. http://www.ahacommunityconnection.org/content/13reducingviolence.pdf

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