Use and cost of short-stay hospital inpatient services under Medicare, 1988.

In this article, data are presented on trends in the use of and program payments for inpatient short-stay hospital services to Medicare beneficiaries. The data on the services used by aged and disabled Medicare beneficiaries are presented for the years 1972 through 1988. The discussion is focused on trends in utilization and program payments resulting from the implementation of the Medicare prospective payment system. The State data for 1988 consist of utilization and program payment statistics by the residence of the beneficiaries in urban and rural areas. This is the first time that inpatient hospital data have been presented in this manner.