Hospital charges for services such as emergency department visits and initial hospital care continue to grow faster than other types of care, a new study shows.

According to FAIR Health, hospitals increased the median fee for assessment and management services by 7% and related negotiated rates by 5%. analyze High-frequency claims from November 2020 to November 2021 came from its database of more than 36 billion claims. Hospital E/M fees and negotiated rates (excluding facility fees) increased the most among the six categories studied by FAIR Health: office E/M services; non-E/M services such as psychiatric care, dialysis, and immunizations; Radiology; Surgery; and Pathology and Laboratory.

Prices for hospital E/M services are rising faster than all other categories studied by nonprofit research firm fifth year in a row. Median related fees up 6% and negotiated rates up 10% November 2019 to November 2020.

“It will be interesting to see how much things change, as we saw with the No Surprise Act,” said FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd.

This no surprise bill Designed to control healthcare costs by protecting patients from unexpected bills, such as when someone accidentally bills an out-of-network specialist in an in-network facility.This Site Neutral Payment Policy, Medicare pays the same rates for E/M services to hospital-based clinics and independent physician offices, and price transparency rules have similar goals. However, Many hospitals do not follow the rules with transparency tasks.

In addition to federal law, there is a range of state-led interventions designed to control the health system by price cap and cost growth benchmark. But many of these efforts have Annual price increases have not been meaningfully limitedpolicy experts said.

Barak Richman, a professor of law and business administration at Duke University, said the increase in hospital charges and negotiated rates indicates a still lack of competition. The figures likely reflect hospital acquisitions of physician practices, which tend to lock in hospitals’ market share and their control over patient flow, he said.

“The rise in hospital charges and allowances shows that we’re still heading in the wrong direction,” Richman said. “The faster rise than other categories means we continue to accelerate in the wrong direction.”

Charges and negotiated rates for hospital E/M services have grown steadily since 2012, outpacing all other categories. FAIR Health from May 2012 to May 2017, related fees increased by 28% and negotiated rates increased by 26% data show.Hospital E/M fees and negotiated rates are from November 2017 to November 2018.