News
Media coverage of HCCI’s original research

High and rising health care costs affect individuals, families, and businesses across the country, and they have for decades. Cost forces difficult choices between health care and other needs. The Health Care Cost Institute's mission of using data and analytics to improve the US health care system recognizes that people are at the heart of health care, and we are committed to putting our clai...

Ambulances contribute to urgent lifesaving and life-enhancing medical care, but the unplanned nature of this essential service can lead to high unexpected costs to patients. This HCCI data brief focuses on ground ambulances, which make up 98% of all ambulance trips, and builds upon earlier work that explored 10-year trends in ambulance prices, utilization, spending, and the frequency of out-of-net...

Recent data from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) show that growth in hospitals' commercial inpatient prices was higher in system-affiliated and non-profit hospitals from 2012-2021.  Key Findings: In the backdrop of a wave of hospital mergers, system-affiliated non-profit hospitals account for more than half of short-term general acute care hospitals in the US (from 50.6% in 2012 to 62.5...

Biologic drugs treat a range of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, retinal diseases, Crohn's disease and many other conditions. Despite accounting for use by just 2% of Americans, spending on biologics is a major driver of drug spending in the United States. Biologics often come with a hefty price tag; for example, the most commonly used biologic drug, Humira, can have out-of-pocket costs that run...

The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) in collaboration with West Health conducted an analysis of the high prices that employer-based insurance pays hospital outpatient departments for clinical lab tests. We found that insurers are paying, on average, 3 times more for common lab tests such as blood and urine test when billed by hospital outpatient departments compared to independent laboratories. D...