Hospital prices post biggest one-month jump

Consumer prices for hospital services spiked 1.8% in September, the largest one-month jump since the Bureau of Labor Statistics first gathered comparable data in January 1997. The figures are seasonally adjusted. The surge comes two months after the bureau reported the largest one-month drop since data collection began, 0.5% in July. Consumers saw hospital prices increase 0.5% in August.

Consumer prices for inpatient hospital services rose faster in September at 2% than those of outpatient services, which increased 1.5%. That's compared with increases of 0.6% and 0.3% for inpatient and outpatient prices, respectively, in August.

For the 12-month period ended in September, overall hospital consumer prices increased 8.1%, while inpatient prices rose 9.3% and outpatient prices climbed 5.9%. A year ago, the overall hospital consumer prices increased 7.1%; inpatient, 7.1%; and outpatient, 7.6%.

Consumer prices for physician services increased 0.4% in September compared with 0.2% in August. For the 12-month period ended last month, physician consumer prices increased 3.5% compared with 2.8% the prior year.