According to a recent report from Altarum, nursing home care saw significant growth in September as one of the fastest-growing categories of national health spending, with an increase of 9.8% compared to the same month last year. This growth was due to both rising prices and increased utilization, according to George Miller, an Altarum fellow and Senior Researcher.

In contrast, home care showed the slowest growth rate among major categories of national health spending in September, increasing by just 5.5%. Despite the fact that home healthcare prices have been growing at a fast pace, this growth was attributed to a slight decline in utilization of these services.

When compared to other major healthcare categories, year-over-year spending growth for prescription drugs was at 11.8%, dental care at 9.8%, physician and clinical services at 8.9%, and hospital care at 6.9%. National health spending overall has increased by 5.7%, year over year, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $4.78 trillion, accounting for 17.2% of gross domestic product (GDP).

While GDP growth continues to outpace total health spending overall, personal healthcare spending has grown faster than GDP since February 2023 and grew by 7.4%, year over year, in September according to the brief. Additionally, nursing homes showed modest employment growth in October with an addition of 4,400 jobs while home healthcare added slightly above the monthly average over the past year with a gain of 9,500 jobs as mentioned by George Miller