Report Shows U.S. Health Care Spending Up 5.6% in Q3
Health care spending in the third quarter of 2015 was 5.6% higher than it was in the third quarter of 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Services report published Thursday, Modern Healthcare reports.
Those figures include spending on:
- Physicians;
- Hospitals; and
- Social services;
- Other medical products; and
- Prescription drugs.
According to the report, spending on:
- Hospitals was 5.3% higher in Q3 2015 than it was during the third quarter of 2014;
- Nursing homes and residential care facilities was 3.3% higher in Q3 2015 than in Q3 2014;
- Physician offices was 7.4% higher in Q3 2015 than in Q3 2014; and
- Outpatient centers was 8.6% higher in Q3 2015 than in Q3 2014.
According to Modern Healthcare, while U.S. health care spending this year grew at a higher rate than it did last year, spending is still growing slower than it had in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Census Bureau will release data on Q4 health care spending on March 10, 2016 (Herman, Modern Healthcare, 12/10).
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