What's Really Driving the Healthcare Cost Crisis? Pt. II: Hospital Costs

Hospital prices have risen faster over the past two years than at any point in the last three decades. They are now the single largest driver of employer medical trend, and the increases have little to do with hospitals getting better at what they do. In fact, hospital productivity has been flat for the better part of twenty years.

In this session, Nick Reber, Garner's founder and CEO, puts the questions to Joe Huston, Garner's VP of Data and Research, on what is behind the increases and how much longer they will last. You'll hear how consolidation let hospitals grow their margins without seeing more patients per employee, why limits on Medicare and Medicaid rates push most of the revenue recovery onto employers, and why price transparency rules have so far helped hospitals negotiate upward rather than pulling prices down. Joe then turns to what employers can still control, including the price gap between hospitals in the same market and the cost difference when a procedure moves from a hospital outpatient department to a surgery center.

The session closes with audience questions on direct contracting, AI, and what government trend means for commercial rates. It is a useful primer for anyone who has to explain to leadership why the hospital line keeps growing and where the plan can push back.