How Has U.S. Spending on Health Care Changed Over Time?
This chart collection explores National Health Expenditure (NHE) data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), including the latest data from 2024.
Health System Performance
The Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker is an online hub monitoring how well the U.S. health system is operating through key quality and cost measures. Visit the Tracker →
View the Latest: Health System Performance
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Accountable Care Organizations: A New Paradigm for Health Care Delivery?
Event Date:EventThe health reform law of 2010 authorizes Medicare, beginning next year, to contract with accountable care organizations (ACOs) in a Medicare Shared Savings Program. ACOs provide financial incentives to improve the coordination and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while reducing costs.
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Health Spending Issues to Watch This Year
Issue BriefKFF and the Peterson Center on Healthcare examine market trends contributing to rising health costs and identify several potential federal and state policy issues to watch throughout 2025, including high-cost drugs, federal funding cuts, and workforce shortages.
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The U.S. Has Fewer Physicians and Hospital Beds Per Capita Than Italy and Other Countries Overwhelmed by COVID-19
News ReleaseA new analysis and chart collection finds that the U.S. has fewer hospital beds and practicing physicians per capita than many similarly large and wealthy countries with health care systems already strained by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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Women’s Experiences with Provider Communication and Interactions in Health Care Settings: Findings from the 2022 KFF Women’s Health Survey
Issue BriefThis brief presents findings from the 2022 KFF Women’s Health Survey (WHS) on women’s experiences with the health care system including screening for social determinants of health, provider communication and interactions, and discrimination.
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Rural Hospitals Face Renewed Financial Challenges, Especially in States That Have Not Expanded Medicaid
Issue BriefThis data note examines rural hospitals’ operating margins in recent years. After seeing higher margins early in the pandemic, likely due to government relief funds, rural hospitals now face renewed challenges, especially in states that have not expanded Medicaid.
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Operating Margins Among the Largest For-Profit Health Systems Have Exceeded 2019 Levels for the Majority of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Issue BriefThis data note examines the financial performance of the three largest for-profit hospital systems in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. All three health systems have had positive operating margins that have exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the majority of the pandemic, including in the third quarter of 2022.
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Updated Health Spending Explorer Features the Latest National Data
News ReleaseThe latest data on U.S. health spending are now available on the Health Spending Explorer, an interactive tool that allows users to explore trends in health expenditures by federal and local governments, insurers, service providers, and individuals.
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Medicaid Provides Support for Providers and Services in the Health Care System
FeatureMedicaid Provides Support for Providers and Services in the Health Care System Download Source CMS, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, National Health Expenditure Accounts, 2013.
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How Has the Quality of the U.S. Health Care System Changed Over Time?
Issue BriefThis chart collection examines five types of indicators: outcomes of treatment, provision of appropriate treatment, patient safety, preventive services, and health system capacity and workforce shortages. Measuring quality in health care is complex: a vast number of metrics are used to monitor health system performance since there is no singular definition of quality, and data is often limited and delayed.