A new report from Altarum Institute finds the price of healthcare has begun to stabilize after months of pandemic growth, writes Fierce Healthcare. The Altarum Institute reported a 2% annual increase in overall healthcare prices for May 2021 and a 1.9% increase for April 2021. These growth rates had exceeded 2.5% for much of last year and ran as high as 2.7%. After a brief respite in the fall, healthcare price growth again jumped over 2.5% early in 2021, according to the institute’s data. Hospitals and physician services retained the highest year-over-year price growth at 3.6% and 3.1%, respectively. Nursing home care and home health care showed the greatest growth drop off during the pandemic, however, dropping from 4.7% to 2.1% and 3.6% to 1.5% year over year, respectively.
Read more:
- Fierce Healthcare: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/finance/healthcare-price-increases-decelerate-as-utilization-personal-spending-continue-covid-19
- Health Sector Economic Indicators: Insights from Monthly National Price Indicies through May 2021. Altarum Institute. June 17 2021 (PDF)