National health spending climbing again

According to new Census Bureau data, national healthcare spending is climbing again after several years of historically low growth rates  (Source: “Hospital sector pushes healthcare spending growth over 7%,” Modern Healthcare, June 11, 2015).

The Census Bureau's Quarterly Services Survey, considered one of the more accurate depictions of the U.S. economy, showed healthcare spending went up 7.2% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period of 2014. Hospitals spurred much of the growth—hospital spending grew 9.2% year over year.

The new data go beyond the recent first-quarter estimates from the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, which said last month that healthcare spending increased 5.4% annually. Census data also surpass the projections from the Altarum Institute's Center for Sustainable Health Spending, a not-for-profit organization that analyzes healthcare economics. Altarum said health expenditures increased 6.6% in the first quarter of this year.