Annual Reports
HCCI’s Health Care Cost and Utilization Reports

Childbirth is the most frequent reason for an inpatient admission in the United States, and Cesarean-section (C-section) is the most common operating room procedure in an inpatient hospital stay. Among people who get insurance through an employer, the combination of labor, delivery, and newborn care makes up nearly one in six dollars spent on inpatient care. Childbirth accounts for an estimated fo...

The postpartum period is a vulnerable time for both birthing parent and newborn and is critically important to their health and well-being. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends ongoing, comprehensive care, including physical, social, and psychological services, during the postpartum period. In large part because of an increasing maternal mortalit...

Abstract:  We analyzed the relationship between prices paid to 30,549 general internal medicine physicians and the cost and quality of care for 769,281 commercially insured adults. The highest-price physicians were paid more than twice as much per service, on average, as the lowest-price physicians were. Total annual costs for patients of the highest-price physicians were $996 (20 percent) hi...

Abstract:  Any Willing Provider (AWP) regulations require insurers to allow health care providers network membership, eliminating an insurer's ability to commit to a limited network of providers. We study the effect of AWP on prices negotiated between insurers and providers by exploiting the introduction of a regulation targeting retail pharmacies in the state of Maine. Using insurance c...

HCCI's 2018 Annual Report was cited in a Health Affairs article on coverage of COVID-19 testing.  From the article:  "Consider cost sharing for a privately insured patient under seven possible evaluation scenarios, shown in exhibit 1. First, if the patient is evaluated in person but does not receive any testing, cost sharing could be imposed for the visit. According to an analysis of nat...