Healthcare spending grew by 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, hitting $581.5 billion. That spending level was also 4.2 percent higher than the third quarter of 2014 and represented the highest level of quarterly spending in the entire year.
The census figures are not adjusted to account for inflation or seasonality.
In total, the Census said healthcare spending was $2.23 trillion in 2014, the first full year that the Affordable Care Act health exchanges were open. That was up 3.9 percent from $2.15 trillion in fiscal 2013.
Hospitals and ambulatory centers boast the highest revenues, but when it came to year-over-year spending growth, outpatient care centers, at 6.6 percent growth, and psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals, at 9.6 percent, saw the biggest change.
Here is the data from the Census:
*/| Kind of business | 4Q 2014 (millions) | 3Q 2014 (millions) | FY 2014 (millions) | FY 2013 (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kind of business | 4Q 2014 (millions) | 3Q 2014 (millions) | FY 2014 (millions) | FY 2013 (millions) |
| Health care and social assistance | $581,451 | $557,794 | $2,235,441 | $2,151,313 |
| Ambulatory health care services | $224,258 | $217,036 | $863,560 | $838,556 |
| Offices of physicians | $108,745 | $104,261 | $415,389 | $409,779 |
| Offices of other health practitioners | $18,969 | $18,349 | $72,894 | $68,369 |
| Outpatient care center | $29,302 | $27,642 | $110,739 | $104,265 |
| Medical and diagnostic laboratories | $12,857 | $12,119 | $48,425 | $47,762 |
| Home health care services | $17,650 | $17,248 | $68,847 | $66,919 |
| Other ambulatory health care services | $8,871 | $8,829 | $34,852 | $34,240 |
| Hospitals | $257,300 | $246,451 | $992,254 | $947,650 |
| General medical and surgical hospitals | $239,598 | $229,742 | $924,382 | $884,076 |
| Psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals | $6,060 | $5,403 | $22,870 | $20,862 |
| Specialty hospitals (except psychiatric and substance abuse) | $11,642 | $11,306 | $45,002 | $42,712 |
| Nursing and residential care facilities | $57,008 | $55,344 | $219,894 | $210,896 |
| Social assistance | $42,885 | $38,963 | $159,733 | $154,211 |
| Individual and family services | $21,597 | $19,769 | $80,600 | $76,422 |
| Community food and housing, and emergency and other relief services | $8,505 | $6,988 | $29,510 | $29,655 |
| Vocational rehabilitation services | $3,418 | $3,405 | $13,330 | $13,178 |
| Child day care services | $9,365 | $8,801 | $36,293 | $34,956 |
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