Nursing home care represented one of the fastest-growing categories of national health spending in August, with year-over-year growth of 10.1%, according to Altarum’s monthly Health Sector Economic Indicators brief, released Thursday.
“This was partly attributable to the fact that nursing home prices also grew at a faster rate than most other categories, at 5.1% year-over-year in September, following an August growth rate of 5.6%,” Altarum Fellow and Senior Researcher George Miller told the McKnight’s Business Daily.
Among the major healthcare categories, prices for home healthcare (6.1%), nursing home care (5.1%) and dental care (4.7%) grew the fastest, whereas physician and clinical services (0.6%) price growth was the slowest.
“Meanwhile, nursing home and residential care employment, while growing steadily in recent months, still remains 5.4% below its pre-pandemic level in February 2020,” Miller said.
Healthcare employment growth decelerated in September, with 40,900 jobs added, following strong growth in July. Nursing and residential care facilities added 8,200 jobs in September; nursing homes added 2,400 jobs, and residential care settings, 5,800 jobs. Ambulatory care settings added 24,300 jobs, and hospitals added 8,400 jobs.
The overall economy added 295,100 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate stayed constant, at 3.8%.
Wage growth declined for the 12th consecutive month, according to data from the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.
Altarum reported that healthcare wage growth in August was 3.4% year-over-year, compared with total private-sector wage growth of 4.3%. Wage growth in healthcare settings was highest in nursing and residential care, at 4.5% year-over-year in August, followed by hospitals, at 3.4%, and ambulatory care settings, at 3.2%.
