Chronic Conditions Lead to Higher Hospital Costs in Potentially Preventable Cases

Hospital costs for patients with multiple chronic conditions were more than 19% higher than costs for patients with one or no chronic conditions, according to recent study from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Researchers found that higher costs were due to longer hospital stays rather than higher costs per day. The authors analyzed 1.43 million hospital cases related to potentially preventable hospitalizations. The so-called ambulatory-care-sensitive conditions are those such as high blood pressure, which are often treated on an outpatient basis but sometimes lead to ...