Annual Reports
HCCI’s Health Care Cost and Utilization Reports

Primary care offers patients a critical connection point to the health care system. With contact, continuity, comprehensiveness, and coordination as its base1, primary care has been shown to improve health outcomes and population health, reduce health disparities, and save health care dollars. Despite the virtues and benefits of primary care, it seems to be getting harder to access. In 2025, ...

As federal and state policymakers pursue policies to lower health care costs, "site neutral payment" has emerged as a potential tool with bipartisan support to bring down spending. Adopting "site neutral payments" would mean that a given service would cost the same amount regardless of where the care was received (i.e., the site of service). Currently, in many cases, hospital outpatient department...

Forty-five percent of per-person health spending among people with employer-sponsored insurance was spent on inpatient or outpatient services. The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) conducted an analysis of hospital inpatient and outpatient prices by key hospital characteristics from 2012-2022. During our study period, we found system-affiliated hospitals were associated with higher prices; non-pro...

Blood cancers represent a range of diseases that can affect blood cells, bone marrow, lymph nodes, and other parts of the lymphatic system. Health care claims data can provide insights into how many people are dealing with blood cancers. Using claims data from people enrolled in Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance (ESI), and Traditional Medicare, this data brief highlights the percentage of peo...

Spending on hospital (inpatient and outpatient) services accounts for more than half of per-person health care spending in the employer-sponsored insured (ESI) population. In 2022, hospital outpatient facility spending per person accounted for nearly a third of total per person spending. Per-person outpatient spending increased 18% from 2018 to 2022, which was driven by a 12% increase in prices an...