According to Altarum’s monthly Health Sector Economics Brief, nursing home care in September once again represented one of the fastest-growing categories of national health spending. However, spending on home care showed the slowest growth rate among major categories of national health spending. The spending on nursing home care has increased by 9.8% since September 2022, due to increases in both prices and utilization, as informed by Altarum fellow and Senior Researcher George Miller.
On the other hand, year-over-year spending growth among other major healthcare categories are prescription drugs at 11.8%, dental care at 9.8%, physician and clinical services at 8.9%, and hospital care at 6.9%. National health spending overall has increased by 5.7%, year over year, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $4.78 trillion, accounting for 17.2% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The report also highlights that personal healthcare spending grew faster than GDP since February 2023 and grew by 7.4% year over year in September. Nursing homes showed modest employment growth in October, adding 4,400 jobs while home healthcare added 9,500 jobs slightly above the monthly average over the past year according to Miller.