NIHCM Foundation is pleased to announce the release of a new data brief, "The Concentration of Health Care Spending." Spending for health care in the U.S. is highly concentrated among a small subset of Americans. Just 5 percent of the population accounted for nearly half of all health care spending in 2009.
Understanding these high-spenders is vital for developing strategies to reduce overall spending growth. In this data brief you will learn more about:
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the characteristics and health conditions of the highest spenders,
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the persistence of high spending patterns over time,
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the challenges in targeting the most expensive cases for better care management, and
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the implications of concentrated spending for risk-based payment and insurance market reforms.
This brief is the third in a series of data briefs on health care spending.