The Average Hospital Spending Per Patient measure in the chart below shows how much Medicare spends per patient at hospitals in that state, compared to how much Medicare spends per patient nationally. This measure includes all payments to doctors, hospitals or other facilities for services provided to a patient during the three days before the hospital stay, during the stay, and during the 30 days after discharge from the hospital.
The cost is also expressed as a ratio to the median amount Medicare spent per patient nationally (“Efficiency Index“). A result of 1 means Medicare spends about the same per patient in that state as it does per patient nationally. A result higher than 1 means that Medicare spends more per patient than the median. A result below 1 means that Medicare spends less per patient than the median. To allow for fair comparisons, Medicare adjusted its figures to take into account the health and diagnosis of patients and other factors.
The national median was $17,988.04 for claims from May 15, 2010, through Feb 14, 2011. In the interactive chart below, Kaiser Health News averaged Medicare spending on patients for each of the state’s hospitals. This chart allows you to sort hospitals by state, state rank and number of hospitals measured.
Source: Kaiser Health News analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data. The data do not include Maryland hospitals, as that state has a unique reimbursement arrangement with Medicare.