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Abstract
HEALTH CARE COSTS Kimberly W. McDermott, PhD, et al., Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, June 27, 2017 "Across all patient demographic subgroups and payers, the number of hospital stays decreased or remained relatively stable between 2005 and 2014. Cost increases of between 10% and 20% occurred for all patient subgroups, except for patients aged 75 years and older, Medicare-covered and uninsured patients, and patients with mental health/substance use stays (Table 2). (Note that hospitalizations for females include hospital stays for pregnancy and delivery.) In 2014, patients from communities with the lowest income levels had the highest rate of hospital stays (13,105 per 100,000 population), followed by the second lowest income quartile (11,458), the second highest income quartile (10,242), and the highest income quartile (8,784).
