Annual Reports
HCCI’s Health Care Cost and Utilization Reports

Yearly reviews of spending, price and utilization trends for commercially-insured Americans. Learn more about our methodology, definitions, and other resources.

Dec
16

Commercial Prices for Ground Ambulance are Double Medicare Rates

Ambulances contribute to urgent lifesaving and life-enhancing medical care, but the unplanned nature of this essential service can lead to high unexpected costs to patients. This HCCI data brief focuses on ground ambulances, which make up 98% of all ambulance trips, and builds upon earlier work that explored 10-year trends in ambulance prices, utilization, spending, and the frequency of out-of-net...

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Dec
03

Commercial inpatient hospital price growth driven by system affiliation and nonprofit-status hospitals

Recent data from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) show that growth in hospitals' commercial inpatient prices was higher in system-affiliated and non-profit hospitals from 2012-2021.  Key Findings: In the backdrop of a wave of hospital mergers, system-affiliated non-profit hospitals account for more than half of short-term general acute care hospitals in the US (from 50.6% in 2012 to 62.5...

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Oct
31

Price Markups for Clinical Labs: Employer-based Insurance Pays Hospital Outpatient Departments 3x Than Physician Offices and Independent Labs for Identical Tests

The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) in collaboration with West Health conducted an analysis of the high prices that employer-based insurance pays hospital outpatient departments for clinical lab tests. We found that insurers are paying, on average, 3 times more for common lab tests such as blood and urine test when billed by hospital outpatient departments compared to independent laboratories. D...

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Oct
29

Welcome to HealthPrices.Org! HCCI’s Free Price Transparency Tool

Building on a commitment to health care price transparency that spans more than a decade, the Health Care Cost Institute is excited to introduce HealthPrices.Org (formerly Guroo), a free health care price transparency tool that shows consumers the average prices for health care services in their local metropolitan area. Access to data on prices can help consumers, employers, and other purchasers o...

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Oct
24

Obesity Treatments Vary Between ESI and Medicaid Populations

According to the most recent year of data available, an estimated 42% of adults have obesity and almost 20% of children are diagnosed with obesity. It is well documented that obesity prevalence and associated health care costs continue to rise. The Kaiser Family Foundation has estimated the average annual health spending for people enrolled in commercial insurance diagnosed with obesity ...

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