Nursing home costs rise 150 percent in nine years - In the News - total annual expenses - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Healthcare Financial Management, Oct, 2001

From 1987 to 1996, the total annual expenses for nursing home care rose 150 percent, from $28 billion to $70 billion, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality medical expenditure panel survey. Annual expenses per nursing home resident rose by 63 percent, from $13,866 to $22,561. Daily expenses per nursing home resident increased from $56 to $118, up 111 percent.

Annual expenses per resident day were the highest in the Northeast and West. Expenses in the Northeast rose 97 percent, from $73 to $144. Expenses in the West increased 156 percent, from $59 to $151.

There was a large shift in the source of payments between 1987 and 1996. Medicare payments increased from 1.9 percent of total payments in 1987 to 18.9 percent of total payments in 1996. The greatest change occurred in the West, where the increase went from 4.1 percent in 1987 to 34.7 percent in 1996.