Publications
The latest HMI publications from HCCI

Childbirth costs, outcomes, and access to care differ between rural and urban hospitals. Rural areas have fewer short-term general acute care (GAC) hospitals, with only about 35% of all GAC hospitals operating in rural locations in 2023. As rural hospitals continue to face financial distress, many unprofitable service lines, such as hospital-based obstetric service units have closed. A recent stud...

 The high and rising costs of childbirth pose a financial challenge to many families. One study found that 60% of pregnant and postpartum women reported having difficulty affording care, with women enrolled in commercial insurance more likely to report affordability challenges than those with public insurance. To understand the average total spending on childbirth related services, as well as...

Research has shown that the price of a single service provided in a hospital outpatient department is consistently higher than the same service provided in a physician office. An earlier HCCI analysis examined 46 services that could be provided in either setting and found higher prices in outpatient departments for all services in all years studied. More recently, we evaluated prices for laborator...

Blood cancers represent a range of diseases that can affect blood cells, bone marrow, lymph nodes, and other parts of the lymphatic system. Health care claims data can provide insights into how many people are dealing with blood cancers. Using claims data from people enrolled in Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance (ESI), and Traditional Medicare, this data brief highlights the percentage of peo...

Previously, HCCI analyzed Ozempic medication use in the ESI population and found that the percentage of patients using Ozempic that had a diabetes diagnosis, the condition Ozempic is clinically indicated to treat, had decreased from 92% in 2018 to 77% 2021. This indicated a growing trend of off-label use of Ozempic. Our findings aligned with reports at the time of off-label use of Ozempic for weig...