About half of U.S. hospitals ended 2022 with negative margins — and 2023 has brought its own financial challenges.
Here are six statistics on the cost of medical care for ASC leaders to watch:
1. The costs of carboplatin and cisplatin — lifesaving chemotherapy medications — have skyrocketed, forcing some hospitals to pay five to 10 times more than before the drugs were reported in short supply in the U.S. Clinics in Florida, for example, have seen prices on carboplatin jump from $29 to $365 per vial and cisplatin from $39 to just under $200 per vial.
2. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, which include Ozempic and Mounjaro, cost between five and to 10 times more in the U.S. than other wealthy nations. In the U.S.America, the medications cost between $936 and $1,349 for a month's supply, compared to between $80 and $100 in countries including France, Australia and the U.K.
3. In a survey of more than 150 healthcare leaders, 34 percent said lowering the cost of care is a major challenge the industry is facing.
4. Healthcare facilities in the West have the highest contract labor expenses, paying an average of $13,605,228 each year.
5. States including Colorado, Delaware, Missouri, Rhode Island and Vermont have introduced legislation this year to cap patients' out-of-pocket costs for EpiPens and generic epinephrine autoinjectors.
6. Prescription drug prices in Minnesota have risen nearly 42 percent since 2017, according to a drug price transparency dashboard recently developed by the state Department of Health.