Whether it is a shortage of chemotherapy drugs, labor costs, delayed care or fear of catching COVID, PPI for the treatment of neoplasms in an inpatient hospital continued its reacceleration in October. to 5.24% YoY from 3.24%.
This PPI series is no doubt imperfect and it is knew but it tells us that costs of care are increasing. Given a labor market with more slack than a year ago, the culprit is probably drugs or acuity or both. At this point there does not appear to be too much to worry about on the benefit expense end of things (as we pointed out yesterday in out 3Q Earnings Recap) but a trend to monitor if for no other reason than it is unusual.
Emily Evans
Managing Director – Health Policy
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