May 2016 Health Sector Economic Indicators Briefs

National health spending in March 2016 was 4.7% higher than health spending in March 2015, the fifth consecutive month of spending growth below 5%, and lower than the average 5.8% rate for all of 2015. In contrast to moderate spending growth, the health sector added 44,200 new jobs in April, slightly more than the robust 12-month average of 41,800 new jobs per month. More than half of these new jobs were in hospitals, an all-time high of 22,900, representing not only the highest monthly increase in hospital jobs over the 25 years of our data, but a record high 4% year over year rate of growth. (emphasis added). Finally, Health care prices in March 2016 were 1.5% higher than in March 2015, down from 1.7% in February, the first drop since September 2015.