Annual Reports
HCCI’s Health Care Cost and Utilization Reports

 ABSTRACT Objectives: Anesthesiology services are a focal point of policy making to address surprise medical billing. However, allowed amounts and charges for anesthesiology services have been understudied due to the specialty's unique conversion factor (CF) unit of payment and complex provider structures involving anesthesiologists and certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs). This st...

SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, June 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the COVID-19 Research Consortium, the Health Care Cost Institute, and Datavant announced 15 winners of the first Research Accelerator grants, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant program's mission is to ensure that researchers have the resources they need to leverage the COVID-19 Research Database to stu...

ABSTRACT Objectives: To describe the association between the form of hospitals' contracts—either markup from a benchmark or a discount from a list price—and performance: price, charge, cost, and length of stay. Study Design: Retrospective observational study using administrative claims data matched with hospital characteristics from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey and the Healthcar...

Abstract: Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) or cancer with bone metastasis often present to the emergency department (ED) for treatment of severe pain, and opioid analgesics remain first-line therapies for acute pain in the ED or after discharge. Policies aimed at improving the safety of opioid prescribing, such as state legislative mandates that prescribers register with or u...

The United States Congress passed the No Surprises Act last year, offering several protections to consumers. Beginning in 2022, providers can no longer bill patients for more than their insurance's in-network cost sharing. The law also bans balance billing except in situations where a patient is notified in advance and their written consent is obtained. Independent dispute resolution between insur...