The Cost of Health Care
In the April 27 issue of News You Can Use, we provided the cost of health care costs nationally and for Emory. In this article, we are expanding on how Emory’s health care dollars are spent.
So Where do Emory’s health care dollars go?
 In 2008, Emory spent $140.4 million on its health plans. This cost is divided into several categories: outpatient services (doctor visits and emergency room visits), inpatient services, behavioral health, prescriptions (brand name and generic), and administrative/miscellaneous costs. The graphic to the right indicates how much was spent in each category (click graphic to enlarge).
In addition to these costs, you might also be interested in knowing that:
• The $140.6 million that Emory spent covered health related costs for 18,768 participating employees and 17,806 eligible family members.
• Emory spent approximately $510.04 per employee per month and an average of $250 per member each month. (Note: On average, there are 1.9 members per employee.)
• We had 2,274 hospital admissions last year, at an average cost of $13,588 per admission. (Fun fact: In 2008, 517 babies were born into the Emory family.)
• There were 7,242 emergency room visits in 2008, at a cost to Emory of $590 per visit.
• The average cost in 2008 for a generic prescription was $26.34 while the average cost for a brand name prescription was $184.16. Generic prescription claims increased to 216,989 while brand name prescription claims decreased to 130,868. This means employees are taking advantage of Tier Zero generic drugs for treatment of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and congestive heart failure.
(Note: In reviewing the 2008 Annual Plan Report and looking at the costs associated with providing health care coverage for all participants, Emory defines a member as a regular employee, any eligible family members of an employee and retirees. However, for purposes of this article only those numbers associated with active employees and their eligible family members were used.)
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