A new report from the Oregon Health Authority outlines a mixed picture on hospital payments.
The report, released Thursday, covers the median amounts paid in 2016 by insurers to hospitals around the state. Heart procedures -- both inpatient and out -- were among the costliest.
The cost of heart valve replacement surgeries rose the most -- by a median cost of $11,200. On a percentage basis, spinal decompression surgeries saw the highest increase -- more than 30 percent.
Between 2015 and 2016, inpatient procedures increased by an average of 6 percent, the most of any category. No other category rose by more than nearly 3 percent, the report said. The cost of imaging and diagnostic procedures dropped slightly. The cost of inpatient procedures is increasing at a faster rate than those performed on an outpatient basis.
Other data show:
- Most procedures show sizable variations in paid amounts, both within and among hospitals.
- Among common outpatient procedures, studies of electrical activity in the heart were reported to have the highest median paid amount at $38,800.
- Among common inpatient procedures, heart valve replacement surgeries were reported to have the highest median paid amount at $96,000.
- Among common diagnostic and imaging services, nuclear medicine evaluations of the cardiovascular system were reported to have the highest median paid amount at $2,300.
Hospital care accounts for as much as 32 percent of health care spending in the state, according to the National Health Expenditure Accounts survey. This annual report is based on data collected in Oregon’s All Payer All Claims database.
This is the third publication the Oregon Hospital Payment Report that the state has released.
Reach Lynne Terry at [email protected].
