As managed care's share of a metropolitan market grows, hospitalization costs are more tightly controlled and hospital lengths of stay come down. That's what common sense suggests, and that's what a recent study bears out. But there are anomalies. In Milwaukee and Miami, for example, higher-than-average hospital costs coexist with fairly heavy managed care penetration. The maps below show how 20 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas fared in the study, which drew on a data base of 11.7 million patients discharged from 3,700 acute care hospitals.
Hospital costs by metropolitan area, vs. national average
ATLANTA | -2.41 |
BALTIMORE | +0.38 |
BOSTON | -6.45 |
CHICAGO | +6.34 |
CLEVELAND | +1.02 |
DALLAS | +3.94 |
DETROIT | -2.66 |
HOUSTON | +32.82 |
LOS ANGELES | -16.15 |
MIAMI | +10.47 |
MILWAUKEE | +13.60 |
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL | -3.61 |
NEW YORK | -9.28 |
PHILADELPHIA | +0.23 |
PITTSBURGH | +2.67 |
ST. LOUIS | +7.49 |
SAN DIEGO | -10.00 |
SAN FRANCISCO | -32.24 |
SEATTLE | -18.46 |
WASHINGTON | +6.21 |
Hospital lengths of stay by metropolitan area, vs. national average
ATLANTA | -7.70 |
BALTIMORE | -2.77 |
BOSTON | -2.41 |
CHICAGO | -3.76 |
CLEVELAND | -5.70 |
DALLAS | -14.13 |
DETROIT | +4.65 |
HOUSTON | +2.14 |
LOS ANGELES | -17.81 |
MIAMI | -2.81 |
MILWAUKEE | -0.54 |
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL | -18.92 |
NEW YORK | +50.07 |
PHILADELPHIA | +11.50 |
PITTSBURGH | +3.69 |
ST. LOUIS | -5.06 |
SAN DIEGO | -26.07 |
SAN FRANCISCO | -20.32 |
SEATTLE | -25.54 |
WASHINGTON | +8.92 |
Percentages are adjusted for severity differences.

Paul Lendner ist ein praktizierender Experte im Bereich Gesundheit, Medizin und Fitness. Er schreibt bereits seit über 5 Jahren für das Managed Care Mag. Mit seinen Artikeln, die einen einzigartigen Expertenstatus nachweisen, liefert er unseren Lesern nicht nur Mehrwert, sondern auch Hilfestellung bei ihren Problemen.