We analyzed 5,480 hospital cost reports. Supply spending varies 3-7x(andrewrexroad.substack.com)
andrewrexroad.substack.com
We analyzed 5,480 hospital cost reports. Supply spending varies 3-7x
https://andrewrexroad.substack.com/p/the-supply-closet
https://andrewrexroad.substack.com/p/the-supply-closet
For this issue I downloaded all 5,480 hospital cost reports from CMS HCRIS and extracted supply cost centers (medical supplies, implantable devices, drugs charged to patients). Key findings:
- Hospitals at the 90th percentile spend 3-7x more per discharge on supplies than the 10th percentile, even after adjusting for case mix - The gap persists within the same bed-size tier and teaching status - A 50-state ranking shows where the waste concentrates geographically - Conservative estimate: $28B/year in addressable waste
All analysis scripts and raw data pipelines are open source: https://github.com/rexrodeo/american-healthcare-conundrum/tr...
Previous issue on admin waste (Issue #5) hit the front page here 20 days ago. Happy to answer questions about methodology.