Annual Reports
HCCI’s Health Care Cost and Utilization Reports

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...

HCCI's President and CEO Niall Brennan was featured in an episode of a podcast produced by the National Conference of State Legislatures. From the podcast description: "The guest on the podcast is an expert in the area of health data and analytics. Niall Brennan is the president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on data to analyze key issues affecting th...

HCCI's research into recent HHS hospital price transparency regulations was featured in Real Clear Health.  From the article: "Our findings demonstrating widespread noncompliance align with those in recent studies published by Health Affairs, The Health Care Cost Institute, and the Kaiser Family Foundation." Real Healthcare Prices Remain Elusive | RealClearHealth A slew of recent healthc...

Abstract:  IMPORTANCE  By 2020, nearly all states had adopted oncology parity laws in the US, ensuring that patients in fully insured private health plans pay no more for orally administered anticancer medications (OAMs) than infused therapies. Between 2013 and mid-2017, 11 states implemented parity with out-of-pocket spending caps, which may further reduce patient out-of-pocket spending...