Average Cost of a Hospital Stay, Emergency Room Visit, Physician or Dental Office Visit, or Home Care Service

In 2014, the mean cost for a hospital stay was $13,450, with an average out-of-pocket expense of $351. That’s according to Medical Expenditures Panel Survey [MEPS] Household Component data available from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

An emergency room visit averaged $1,048 in 2014, with $95 of that in out-of-pocket expenses.

A hospital outpatient visit expense averaged $927 with a $54 out-of-pocket cost, while an office-based physician visit totaled $222 with $29 out-of-pocket. The mean out-of pocket expense for a dental visit was $132 of the total visit cost of $295.

Finally, home health care expenses averaged $1,454 per month for those who had the expense during the year.

MEPS data on household medical expenditures is also available for earlier years.

Source: Expenditures per event by health care service type. Medical Expenditures Panel Survey, Household Component summary tables, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, accessed Feb. 15, 2017 at https://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/quick_tables_results.jsp?component=1&subcomponent=0&year=-1&tableSeries=9&searchText=&SearchMethod=1&Action=Search

• Table 2: Total utilization and mean expenses for inpatient stays by length of stay, 2014. https://meps.ahrq.gov/data_stats/summ_tables/hc/mean_expend/2014/table2.pdf
• Table 1: Total utilization and mean expenses per visit by type of ambulatory health care service, 2014. https://meps.ahrq.gov/data_stats/summ_tables/hc/mean_expend/2014/table1.pdf
• Table 3: Percent of persons with home health care expenses during the year and mean expenses per month by type of provider and age, 2014. https://meps.ahrq.gov/data_stats/summ_tables/hc/mean_expend/2014/table3.pdf

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