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Annual
Hospital costs for the Top 6 Heart-related
Conditions near $60 Billion
Newswise — Treating heart attack victims,
opening clogged arteries and treating other
common cardiovascular conditions cost U.S.
hospitals $57.9 billion in 2006 – about 40
percent more than in 1997, according to the
latest News and Numbers from the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality.
Most of this growth in costs, however,
occurred between 1997 and 2003. Since 2003,
annual growth in costs for these conditions
has slowed to less than 2 percent –
attributable to a slight decline in the
number of heart disease cases and slower
increases in the cost per case.
AHRQ’s analysis, which adjusted cost figures
for inflation, showed how much U.S. hospital
costs increased between 1997 and 2006 for
the following cardiovascular treatments:
• Hospital treatment of patients with
coronary artery disease (hardening of the
arteries) increased from $14.5 billion in
1997 to $17.5 billion in 2006 (a 2.1 percent
annual increase).
• Costs for treating patients with heart
attacks increased from $9 billion to $11.8
billion (a 3 percent annual increase).
• Costs for treating patients with
congestive heart failure increased from $6.6
billion to $11.2 billion (a 6.1 percent
annual increase).
• Costs for treating patients with irregular
heart beats increased from $3.5 billion to
$6.8 billion (a 7.7 percent annual
increase).
• Costs for treating patients with stroke
increased from $5.3 billion to $6.7 billion
(a 2.6 percent annual increase).
• Costs for treating patients with chest
pain with no determined cause increased from
$1.6 billion to $3.9 billion. This condition
increased more than any other of these
heart-related conditions – increasing by
about 10 percent annually from 1997 to 2006.
Treatment for these conditions accounted for
17.6 percent of the $329 billion hospitals
spent on patient care in 2006 – slightly
lower than in 1997 when these conditions
accounted for 18.7 percent of the $216
billion spent.
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