Annual Reports
HCCI’s Health Care Cost and Utilization Reports

Introduction Excessive emergency room (ER) spending and utilization have long been major areas of focus for health care stakeholders. The ER is an important source of health care for many individuals, especially those who lack a usual source of care, or those with work schedules that limit the ability to access care during "normal business hours." But an ER visit can be extremely expensive, and pa...

HCCI's research on market consolidation was mentioned in an interview with the director of a documentary about hospital mergers.   From the article: "There's this great website called the Health Care Cost Institute, and they have a great interactive tool where you can go and see how consolidated each health care region is all around the country." Delray Beach, Florida filmmaker...

HCCI's research into ER "facility fees" was featured in a USA TODAY article about fees for visiting an emergency room. From the article: "In 2019, the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute found that the average emergency room visit cost $1,389, up 176% over the decade. This number only includes the cost of entry for emergency care, not include extra charges such as blood tests, IVs, drugs or other...

Previous HCCI analysis documented rapid growth in insulin spending over the 2012-17 period. High out-of-pocket spending may deter adherence to insulin among individuals with diabetes, with potentially fatal effects. In this blog, we update our analysis of out-of-pocket insulin spending to 2019 using HCCI's unique commercial claims dataset, which includes prescription drug claims for 29 millio...

HCCI's President and CEO Niall Brennan was quoted in an NPR report on a shockingly high bill for a COVID-19 test. From the article: ' "People are going to charge what they think they can get away with," says Niall Brennan, president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit that studies health care prices. "Even a perfectly well-intentioned provision like this can be hijacke...