Section 1: Overview Statistics for Inpatient Hospital Stays

EXHIBIT 1.1 Characteristics of U.S. Community Hospitals (PDF)
EXHIBIT 1.2 Inpatient Hospital Stays and Average Length of Stay (PDF)
EXHIBIT 1.3 Reasons for Hospital Stays
EXHIBIT 1.4 Expected Primary Payer (PDF)
EXHIBIT 1.5 Discharge Status (PDF)
EXHIBIT 1.6 Patient Age (PDF)

• The number of hospital discharges increased from 34.7 million in 1997 to 39.9 million in 2008, a 15-percent increase overall, or an average annual increase of 1.3 percent.
• Between 1997 and 2008, the aggregate inflation-adjusted costs for hospitalizations—the actual costs of producing hospital services—increased 61 percent. Costs rose from $227.2 billion to $364.7 billion—an average annual increase of 4.4 percent.
• The average length of stay (ALOS) in 2008 (4.6 days) was almost 20 percent shorter than in 1993 (5.7 days). The ALOS declined throughout most of the 1990s and has remained unchanged since 2000.
• Circulatory conditions were the most frequent major cause of hospital stays in 2008, accounting for 5.9 million stays or 15 percent of all discharges.
• Even when pregnancy and childbirth stays are excluded, females accounted for more stays than males—18.6 million stays for females compared to 16.5 million stays for males.
• Pregnancy and childbirth was the reason for 1 out of every 5 female hospitalizations (4.7 million stays).
• Medicare and Medicaid were the expected primary payers for more than half (55 percent) of all inpatient hospital discharges.
• Between 1997 and 2008, Medicaid discharges (up 30 percent) grew at double the rate of all discharges, followed closely by uninsured discharges (up 27 percent).
• The number of discharges billed to Medicare grew by 18 percent.
• Growth in the number of discharges billed to private insurance remained relatively stable (5 percent).
• The number of discharges to home healthcare grew by 69 percent (1.6 million discharges) between 1997 and 2008.
• Uninsured and Medicaid stays accounted for nearly half (48 percent) of all stays discharged against medical advice, but only about one-quarter (23 percent) of all stays in 2008.
• Persons residing in the poorest communities had a 21-percent higher rate of hospitalization in 2008 (148 discharges per 1,000 population) than those residing in all other communities (122 discharges per 1,000 population).

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