CPI for hospitals up 0.5% in April, 6.1% year-over-year

The Consumer Price Index for hospitals, which track changes in reimbursement paid by private insurers, increased 0.5% last month after the prior month's 0.8% gain.

Newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Consumer Price Index, which does not include Medicare Part A and Medicaid reimbursement, shows the increase in April is a swing from the 0.5% decline reported during the same month last year. During the year that ended in April, the Consumer Price Index increased 6.1% compared with 4.3% the prior year. The figures are seasonally adjusted.

The index of consumer prices for inpatient hospital service increased 0.4% last month; the outpatient hospital CPI climbed 0.5%.

The CPI for physician services increased 0.3% in April after the 0.2% climb in March. In April 2013, the physician service CPI increased 0.4%. For the year that ended last month, the measure of inflation captured a 1.4% price increase compared with 2.7% the year before.

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