title: Where The Money Goes: The Evolving Expenses Of The US Health Care System.
abstract: National health care expenditures constitute revenue to the health care system. However, little is known about how this revenue is distributed across sectors. This article calculates revenues and detailed expenditures for physicians' offices, hospitals, and outpatient care centers in 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012, using a range of Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics sources. Between 1997 and 2012, spending on these three sectors rose by $580 billion, and employment rose by 1.7 million people. Just under half of all 2012 revenues were spent on labor compensation. The labor compensation share of spending declined slightly; within these sectors, the share of compensation paid to physicians and nurses increased. Although employment of nonprofessional labor grew during the study period, this group did not account for much of the sector's increased spending. The plurality of the 1997-2012 spending increase went to producers of purchased materials and services, which now account for more than one-third of payments.
authors.affiliation: Sherry Glied (sherry.glied@nyu.edu) is a professor at and dean of the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, in New York City.
authors.forename: Sherry
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glied
authors.affiliation: Stephanie Ma is a junior research scientist at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Claudia Solis-Roman is a junior research scientist at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Solis-Roman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000639:trends*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000191:economics*; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States
keywords: Cost of Health Care; Hospitals; Physicians