Section 1: Overview Statistics for Inpatient Hospital Stays PDF

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 PDF
EXHIBIT 1.4 Discharge Status PDF
EXHIBIT 1.5 Patient Age PDF

• The number of hospital discharges increased from 34.7 million in 1997 to 39.5 million in 2007, a 14-percent increase overall, or an average increase of 1.3 percent annually.
• The average length of stay (ALOS) in 2007 was 4.6 days—almost 20 percent shorter than in 1993, when the ALOS was 5.7 days. The ALOS declined throughout most of the 1990s and has stabilized during the current decade.
• Between 1997 and 2007, the aggregate inflation-adjusted costs for hospitalizations (the actual costs of producing hospital services) rose from $222.4 billion to $343.9 billion—an increase of 55 percent.
• While people 65 years and older represented 13 percent of the population in 2007, they comprised 33 percent of all hospitalizations.
• The number of discharges to home healthcare grew by 55 percent (up 1.3 million discharges). Discharges to nursing homes and long term care increased by 32 percent (1.2 million discharges). The number of patients who left the hospital against medical advice, although small, rose by 39 percent (up 103,700 discharges) — the second fastest increase of any discharge type.
• Circulatory conditions were the most frequent major cause of hospital stays in 2007, accounting for 6.4 million stays and 16 percent of all discharges. These stays were for diagnoses such as coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, heart attack, and irregular heart beat.
• Pregnancy and childbirth was the reason for more than 1 out of every 5 female hospitalizations (5 million stays) in 2007. Even when pregnancy and childbirth stays are excluded, females accounted for more stays than males—18.2 million stays for females compared to 16.2 million stays for males.

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