Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Schizophrenia in the Top Four Most Expensive Conditions for Medicaid

The USA's hospital bill totaled more than $790 billion in 2004, according to a new report by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). The bill represents the total amount charged for 39 million hospital stays that year.

Medicaid's top five most expensive conditions included schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorders.

Table 3. Top 20 most expensive conditions billed to Medicaid in 2004

Rank, Principal diagnosis, Cost ($ Millions)

1 Mother's pregnancy and delivery $15,909
2 Newborn infant $14,816
3 Pneumonia $3,169
4 Schizophrenia and related disorders $2,700
5 Depression & bipolar disorders $2,362

Percent Ranking and Hospital Stays

Rank, Principal diagnosis, % of Medicaid’s hospital bill, Number of hospital stays (thousands)

1 Mother's pregnancy and delivery 14.2% 1,737
2 Newborn infant 13.3% 1,767
3 Pneumonia 2.8% 160
4 Schizophrenia, related disorders 2.4% 129
5 Depression and bipolar disorders) 2.1% 187

Source: The National Hospital Bill: The Most Expensive Conditions, by Payer, 2004. The HCUP -- the nation's largest source of statistics on hospital inpatient care for all patients regardless of type of insurance or whether they were insured -- is made possible by a Federal-State partnership that brings data together from many sources, and is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).