The cost of healthcare under employer-sponsored health insurance climbed an estimated 6.3 percent for the year ending June 30, 2010, according to a new Thomson Reuters index.
The "Thomson Reuters Healthcare Spending Index for Private Insurance" measures historical and current levels of per capita healthcare spending for individuals whose coverage is provided by self-insured employers – a segment that represents about 25 percent of U.S. healthcare expenditures.
Preliminary estimates are released quarterly, approximately 90 days after the period in which the healthcare services were used.
"The index helps employers and insurers benchmark their costs, healthcare providers understand their revenue streams and policymakers monitor healthcare inflation and its implications," said Gary Pickens, chief research officer at the Thomson Reuters Center for Healthcare Analytics. "We also can conduct custom analyses that break down the data by type of healthcare service, type of provider, geographic region, patient demographic subgroup and other specifications."
Spending for hospital care has increased faster than spending on physician services or prescription medicines in the past year. Hospital costs increased 8.2 percent, physician costs increased 5.5 percent and drug costs increased 3.4 percent.
Index estimates are based on the Thomson Reuters MarketScan databases, a repository of healthcare claims for inpatient and outpatient services. The 2009-2010 index represents treatment patterns and costs of more than 12 million employees and their dependents.
The Thomson Reuters healthcare spending index report can be foud here.