“Spending in home care outpaces other healthcare sectors”

“Spending in home care outpaces other healthcare sectors,” by Kathleen Steele Gaivin, McKnights Senior Living

“Spending in home healthcare outpaced other healthcare sectors in November, according to Altarum’s monthly Health Sector Economic Indicators brief, released Wednesday. ‘In November 2023, year-over-year spending on home healthcare grew the fastest among major spending categories, at 12.9%,’ Altarum Fellow and Senior Researcher George Miller told the McKnight’s Business Daily. ‘Spending on nursing home care during the same period grew by 7.9%.’ Prescription drug spending saw 12.2% growth, whereas spending on dental services and hospital care increased the least, at 5.8% and 5.9%, respectively, among major categories. Overall, personal spending on healthcare goods and services was 7.3% in November, year over year.”

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

Maybe you’ve heard inflation has abated. Not in health care, especially home health care, which decades of “rebalancing” from nursing homes were supposed to “save money.” Keep an eye on LTC inflation. As it constricts state and federal budgets, more sensible policy must emerge. To make sense of what ails LTC, read “Long-Term Care: The Problem” and “Long-Term Care: The Solution” and watch this “virtual LTC event” featuring age wave visionary Ken Dychtwald and leading LTC researchers.