Septicemia tops list of 10 most expensive inpatient conditions

Septicemia tops the list of most expensive inpatient conditions to treat, costing $20.3 billion in 2011, according to the latest statistical brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Care and treatment for septicemia represented 5.2 percent of total inpatient hospital costs, which reached $387 billion in 2011, the AHRQ reports.

Medicare and Medicaid took care of most (63 percent) inpatient hospital costs, with Medicare incurring $182 billion in costs. Private insurers covered $112.5 billion in hospital costs (29 percent) and uninsured hospitalizations totaled $17 billion.

Below are the top 10 most expensive conditions treated in U.S. hospitals, all payers in 2011, according to the AHRQ:

  1. Septicemia (except in labor)--$20.3 billion
  2. Osteoarthritis--$14.8 billion
  3. Complication of device, implant or graft--$12.9 billion
  4. Liveborn--$12.4 billion
  5. Acute myocardial infarction--$11.5 billion
  6. Spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, other back problems--$11.2 billion
  7. Pneumonia (except that caused by tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases)--$10.6 billion
  8. Congestive heart failure, nonhypertensive--$10.5 billion
  9. Coronary atherosclerosis--$10.4 billion
  10. Respiratory failure, insufficiency, arrest (adult)--$8.7 billion

For more:
- here's the AHRQ report

Correction: This story has been updated to list the inpatient hospital costs in billions of dollars.