17 statistics on the current state of US healthcare spending, finances

Here are 17 interesting facts and statistics on finance in the U.S. healthcare industry, all in one place.

National healthcare spending
1. National healthcare expenditures rose 5.3 percent in 2014 to $3 trillion, or $9,523 per person, accounting for 17.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to the latest data from CMS.

2. Medicare spending grew 5.5 percent and accounted for $618.7 billion in 2014, or 20 percent of total national healthcare spending.

3. Medicaid spending increased by 11 percent to $495.8 billion in 2014, or 16 percent of total national healthcare spending.

4. Spending on commercial health insurance grew 4.4 percent to $991 billion in 2014, or 33 percent of total national healthcare expenditures, while out-of-pocket spending grew 1.3 percent to $329.8 billion, or 11 percent of national healthcare expenditures.

Hospital and clinical expenditures
5. Hospital expenditures increased by 4.1 percent to $971.8 billion in 2014, up from the 3.5 percent growth in 2013, according to CMS.

6. Physician and clinical services expenditures rose 4.6 percent to $603.7 billion in 2014, higher than the 2.5 percent growth rate in 2013, according to CMS.

7. The average cost per inpatient day in state/local government hospitals across the U.S. was $1,974 in 2014, the latest year for which data is available, according to Kaiser State Health Facts. The average cost per inpatient day was $2,346 in nonprofit hospitals and $1,798 in for-profit hospitals.

Insurance coverage
8. An estimated 20 million people gained health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act between the passage of the health reform law in 2010 and early 2016, according to HHS. Included in the 20 million people are those who received private health insurance on the ACA exchanges, those who gained Medicaid coverage under state expansion and young adults who were able to stay on their parents' health plans until age 26.

Physician practice
9. Hospital ownership of physician practices jumped 86 percent between 2012 and 2015, according to a study from Avalere Health.

10. Nearly 40 percent of the nation's physicians, or 140,000 providers, were hospital-employed, the study found. This marks a nearly 50 percent increase in hospital employment since 2012, when 95,000 physicians were employed across the country.

11. Orthopedic surgeons generate the most revenue for hospitals, according to a Merritt Hawkins survey. On average, a full-time orthopedic surgeon brought in $2.7 million in revenue last year for his or her affiliated hospital. Invasive cardiologists generated the second-most revenue, with an average of $2.4 million annually, and neurosurgeons followed close behind. General surgeons took the fourth spot on the list, generating nearly $2.2 million annually for their affiliated hospitals.

12. However, primary care physicians presented the best return on investment for hospitals. In 2015, family physicians had an average starting salary of $198,000 at hospitals responding to the survey, and generated 7.5 times that amount in hospital revenue. Orthopedic surgeons averaged a starting salary of $497,000 and generated only 5.5 times that amount in revenue.

13. The highest ranking physician specialists, according to patients' online reviews of their care experience, are:
i. Neuromusculoskeletal specialists
ii. Thoracic surgeons
iii. Podiatrists
iv. Plastic surgeons
v. Colon and rectal surgeons

14. The lowest ranked physician specialists, according to patients' online reviews of their experience, are:
i. Psychiatrists
ii. Preventative medicine specialists
iii. Pain specialists
iv. Emergency physicians
v. Neurologists

Prescription drug spending
15. Spending on prescription drugs increased by 12.2 percent to $297.7 billion in 2014, up from the 2.4 percent growth in 2013, according to CMS.

16. Annual spending on prescription drugs in the U.S. is estimated to rise 22 percent over the next five years, reaching $400 billion in 2020, according to healthcare information company IMS Health Holdings.

17. From 2011 to 2015, spending on advertisements to market prescription drug to consumers soared by 60 percent, reaching $5.2 billion in 2015, according to STAT.

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