STATISTICAL BRIEF #28

hospital costs grew by 21.9 percent to $295 billion (inflation adjusted). About two-thirds of the increase was due to increased mean cost per stay and one-third to an increase in admissions. For the top 10 procedures associated with stays that generated the largest increases in costs, the increases resulted largely from an increase in the volume of procedures, rather than a rise in the mean cost per stay. The combined increase in hospital costs for the top 10 procedures was 64.8 percent— two-thirds due to volume increases and one-third to increases in costs per stay. The uninsured had the most rapid increase in costs (135.7 percent) for the top 10 principal procedures. Among procedures, the largest increase in costs was for stays involving spinal fusion (93.6 percent). For Medicare-covered patients, spinal fusion was associated with the greatest increase in total costs (136.5 percent). Hospital stays for cardiac pacemaker or cardioverter/defib-rillator procedures showed a high increase in total cost for all patient groups (87.0 percent), but especially for the uninsured (163.4 percent increase). For Medicaid and privately insured patients, these stays showed an increase of 105.1 percent and 91.5 percent, respectively, in total costs per stay. The top 10 procedures associated with hospital stays that generated the most rapidly increasing costs were similar for the different payer groups, but the ordering of procedures varied