Hospital payments for COVID-19 inpatient treatment: An analysis of inpatient claims data

In this white paper, we provide an analysis of actual claims experience for hospital admissions for treatment of COVID-19 by market over the time period April 1 to July 31, 2020. The markets included commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare sources of insurance coverage. We further stratify hospital admissions from each market into three distinct severity levels: non-intensive-care-unit (ICU), ICU without invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), and ICU with IMV. The paper also presents statistics by market that result from market-specific dynamics and population characteristics. Key findings of our analysis include: (1) hospital payments vary significantly by market and severity level, (2) length of stay varies significantly by severity level, with less variation by market, and (3) hospital payments per admission do not follow the normal distribution.

This paper was commissioned by Amgen, Inc.