New AHRQ Report Shows Hospital Discharges Up, Length of Stay Down
September 28, 2009
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released the HCUP Facts and Figures: Statistics on Hospital-Based Care in the United States, 2007 study, which includes information on trends in hospital care from 1997-2007, according to an AHRQ news release.
According to the report, the number of hospital discharges increased 14 percent between 1997 and 2007, with growth varying by expected primary payor. Medicare and Medicaid were the expected primary payors for more than half of all inpatient hospital discharges and accounted for around 60 percent of aggregate hospital costs in 2007.
Length of hospital stay decreased from 1997-2007, with average stay at 4.6 days, as opposed to 4.8 days. According to the report, this decline was due to the change in average stays by Medicare patients, which was down from 6.3 days to 5.6 days.
Other highlights from the study include:
- Discharges billed to private insurance fell from 39 percent in 1997 to 35 percent in 2007.
- The uninsured accounted for 6 percent of all hospital stays in 2007, about the same as in 1997.
- Stays for some body system conditions and payors grew rapidly from 1997 to 2007, including pregnancy and childbirth; skin, perinatal (newborns), pregnancy and childbirth and musculoskeletal conditions; skin, blood and endocrine conditions among private payors.
- Hospitalizations for acute renal failure, skin and subcutaneous tissue infections, anemia, non-specific chest pain, septicemia (blood infection), osteoarthritis, complication of device, implant or graft and complication of surgical procedures or medical care grew among all payors.
Read the release about the new HCUP Facts and Figures report.
Read the HCUP Facts and Figures: Statistics on Hospital-Based Care in the United States, 2007.
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