Creating Useful Resources for Your Hospital:

Inflation Data

We provide credible inflation data on a quarterly basis at no cost to you. To access, click on the box below.

(Note:  Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view these documents.  Click on the Adobe icon to download the application, if needed).

New Thoughts on Hospital Inflation

With hospitals around the country relying upon our hospital inflation data when creating budgets and making other financial plans, it is important to explain how our inflation data is determined.

Inflation of hospital expenses represents the actual/projections from the Producer Price Index (PPI), Consumer Price Index (Urban) (CPI-U) and CMS data as presented by DRI-WEFA, an economic forecasting firm.

The recent economic crash has had a major effect upon prices, including salaries, wages and benefits. Although our past projections of increasing inflation were valid, because of the economic downturn it will now be several years before inflation again becomes a major issue.

A notable feature is the total hospital revenue, which includes technological and volume increases. These figures are derived from the CMS Office of the Actuary-National Healthcare Expenditures. With hospital expenditures (total revenues) now well over the half a trillion dollar mark, those dollars are looming larger and larger on the national radar screen.

As always, we enjoy hearing from you with any comments regarding our hospital inflation projections.

About the Indices

Past inflation figures were derived primarily by utilizing CMS data, which is based on BLS Producer Price Indexes (PPI), Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) and Employer Cost Indexes (ECI). Weights of expense categories were obtained through the use of the CMS HCRIS File, (100 percent sample) as well as CMS annual weighting factors. Projections are based on past history, group surveys and trend analysis.  The weighting factors are standard and should be modified for each individual hospital.

Weights of expense categories were obtained through the use of the CMS HCRIS File, (100 percent sample) as well as CMS annual weighting factors.

It should be noted that inflation only measures the increase in the price paid for the same item from one year to another. Hospital budgets must also reflect volume and technology increases (i.e., new drugs being introduced to the market).

Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. You can e-mail or call us at 800-862-5368 (in Arizona 602-995-9420) for more information.