Statistical bulletin (Metropolitan Life Insurance Company : 1984)
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During 1997 the average total charge for an open appendectomy (OA) was $9,670 while that for a laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) was $11,290. The 20 study states (those with 50 or more OAs) accounted for 77 percent of the 2,979 OA procedures investigated. The total charges ranged from $12,800 in California to $6,540 in Oklahoma. ⋯ The physicians' fees ranged from $4,280 in New York to $1,830 in Colorado. The patients with LAs remained in the hospital, on average, 2.22 days. The length of stay ranged from almost three days in Ohio to 1.62 days in Colorado.
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Stat Bull Metrop Insur Co · Oct 1995
CommentThe urgency of visits to hospital emergency departments: data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), 1992.
During 1992, an estimated 89.8 million visits were made to the emergency departments (EDs) of nonfederal, short-stay or general hospitals in the United States. Of these ED visits, 40.1 million (44.6 percent) were labeled urgent by hospital staff. For survey purposes, an urgent visit was defined as one in which the patient requires immediate attention for an acute illness or injury that threatens life or function and where delay would be harmful to the patient. ⋯ Along with injury and poisoning, diseases of the respiratory system and "signs, symptoms, and ill-defined conditions" accounted for the majority of both urgent and nonurgent ED visits. About one-quarter (24.9 percent) of urgent ED visits resulted in hospital admission. However, the most common disposition at both urgent and nonurgent ED visits was referral to another physician.
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The cost of health care remains an important issue for the U. S. economy. Health care expenditures in 1995 are projected to be over $1 trillion, with the annual growth rate expected to average 8 percent for the 1990-95 period. ⋯ This result followed a gain of 5.9 percent in 1993. Health care spending varies by region, with New England having the highest per capita spending and the Rocky Mountain states having the lowest. States with the highest proportions of the population over age 65 tend to be those with the highest health care costs, as well as growth rates, in the country.
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Stat Bull Metrop Insur Co · Apr 1994
Trend in mortality from violent deaths: suicide and homicide, United States, 1960-1991.
Death rates from suicide and homicide have been rising since 1960 even as rates from all causes have decreased. Between 1960 and 1991, mortality from all causes among men aged 15 and over decreased from 885.1 per 100,000 population to 645.9. The suicide rates, however, increased from 16.6 to 18.7 per 100,000 and homicide mortality rates more than doubled, rising from 7.7 to 16.6 per 100,000. ⋯ In 1989 homicide rates among men aged 15 to 24 surpassed these and continue to rise at a rapid pace. Homicides among women were the highest among the age group 25 to 34. The second highest rates occurred at ages 35 to 44 through 1975 and at ages 15 to 24, thereafter.
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Firearms claim more than 30,000 lives each year in the United States. In 1988 more than half of these deaths were among ages 1-34, with firearms accounting for 15 percent of all deaths in this age group. Total firearm deaths, as well as firearm homicide rates, have been increasing since 1984, taking a disproportionate toll on America's minority youth. ⋯ Among blacks aged 15-24, the firearm homicide rate was 72.0 per 100,000 during 1986-88 versus 8.1 among white males of this age. Geographic differences also exist, with Texas, California and New York leading in firearm homicides among white males aged 15-24, and Michigan, D. C., and California leading among blacks of this age.