Adjusting health expenditures for inflation: a review of measures for health services research in the United States.
Open accessAbstract
Objective: To provide guidance on selecting the most appropriate price index for adjusting health expenditures or costs for inflation. Data Sources: Major price index series produced by federal statistical agencies. Study Design: We compare the key characteristics of each index and develop suggestions on specific indexes to use in many common situations and general guidance in others. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: Price series and methodological documentation were downloaded from federal websites and supplemented with literature scans. Principal Findings: The gross domestic product implicit price deflator or the overall Personal Consumption Expenditures ( PCE ) index is preferable to the Consumer Price Index ( CPI ‐U) to adjust for general inflation, in most cases. The Personal Health Care ( PHC ) index or the PCE health‐by‐function index is generally preferred to adjust total medical expenditures for inflation. The CPI medical care index is preferred for the adjustment of consumer out‐of‐pocket expenditures for inflation. A new, experimental disease‐specific Medical Care Expenditure Index is now available to adjust payments for disease treatment episodes. Conclusions: There is no single gold standard for adjusting health expenditures for inflation. Our discussion of best practices can help researchers select the index best suited to their study.
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Annual background health care costs range from $4016 to $11,740 depending on age.
“Annual background health care costs, derived from the 2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, ranged from $4016 to $11 740, depending on age.26”
From Accuracy requirements for cost-effective suicide risk prediction among primary care patients in the US (2021) · cites this paper as [26]
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- Authors
- Dunn, A., Grosse, S. D., & Zuvekas, S. H.
- Affiliations
- Bureau of Economic Analysis (US)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US)
- Corresponding author
- Grosse, Scott D.
- Venue
- Health Services Research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-11-21
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 175-196
- ISSN
- 0017-9124 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-6773
- PMC
- PMC5785315
- OpenAlex
- W2556613236
- Cited by
- 494
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 60 · 2022: 89 · 2021: 72 · 2020: 60 · 2019: 44 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 16
- FWCI
- 9.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Health Services Research (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Healthcare Policy and Management
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Global Health Care Issues
- Keywords
- health care costs, inflation adjustment, price indices, consumer price index, out-of-pocket costs
- MeSH terms
- Cost-Benefit Analysis, Health Expenditures, Health Services Research, Humans, Inflation, Economic, United States, Cost of Illness, Models, Economic
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