The increase in the per capita cost of healthcare services for the 12 months ending in March nearly hit a new low for Standard & Poor's Healthcare Economic Composite Index, after hitting an all-time high in May 2010, according to a Standard & Poor's release.
The index, which covers commercial insurance and Medicare programs, saw a 5.77 percent increase in March, which nearly matched the lowest annual growth rate in the six-year history of the index, a 5.76 percent increase in June 2007. The index has declined 2.97 percent since the high of 8.74 percent in May 2010.
However, while Medicare costs have fallen, costs for commercial payors are still relatively high. The Hospital Commercial Index peaked at 9.36 percent in May 2010 but was still at 8.36 percent as of March 2011. S&P said the divergent rates might be due to better containment of Medicare costs and greater use of procedures and services covered by commercial payors.
The indices estimate the per capita change in revenues accrued each month by hospital and professional services facilities for services provided to Medicare patients and patients covered under commercial health insurance programs. The annual growth rates are determined by calculating a percentage change of the 12-month moving averages of the index levels compared with the same month of the prior year.
Read the Standard and Poor's release on healthcare costs.
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