Septicemia is the most expensive condition treated in U.S. hospitals, accounting for $23.7 billion in aggregate hospital costs in 2013, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Spending on septicemia represented 6.2% of the total cost for all hospitalizations in 2013. The rest of the five most expensive conditions were osteoarthritis ($16.5 billion); liveborn infants ($13.3 billion); complications of devices, implants, or grafts ($12.4 billion); and acute MI ($12.1 billion). These five conditions accounted for 20.5% of all U.S. hospital costs and 20.6% of all admissions, the AHRQ report noted.
Total hospital costs for the 35.6 million overall stays in 2013 were more than $381 billion. That figure represents hospitals’ cost to produce the services, not the amount covered by payers, and it does not include physician fees associated with hospitalizations, the agency said.
