Massachusetts Report Finds Private Healthcare Spending Up 15.5% Overall, Down for ASCs From 2006-2008

A new report from the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy found that private spending per member for healthcare was up 15.5 percent from 2006-2008, or 7.5 percent annually. Over 75 percent of this growth occurred in hospital outpatient departments, according to the report.

The report, Massachusetts Health Care Cost Trends Part III: Health Spending Trends for Privately Insured 2006-2009, contributed this growth in hospital outpatient departments to procedures and imaging costs.

Total expenditures for inpatient hospital care rose from $1.92 billion in 2006 to $13.38 billion in 2008 (14.8 percent increase). For hospital outpatient departments, expenditures rose from $2.42 billion in 2006 to $3.05 billion in 2008 (26.4 percent increase). For free-standing outpatient facilities, expenditures dropped from $297 million to $255 million from 2006-2008, a 14.0 percent decrease.

In the three-year period, growth in spending grew $1.73 billion, with hospital outpatient services accounting for 36.8 percent of total growth in spending. Inpatient hospital care represented 18.7 percent of total spending in Massachusetts over the period, and free-standing facilities experienced a 2.4 percent decrease as part of total growth.

Read the Massachusetts Health Care Cost Trends Part III: Health Spending Trends for Privately Insured 2006-2009 report.

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