Hoosier Hospitals

Hoosier Hospitals – Serving Indiana’s patients.

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Health Care Access, Quality, & Affordability

How does Indiana compare?

Hoosiers enjoy some of the country’s best and most affordable hospital care. 

Indiana is ranked 13th in the nation in a composite of CMS patient safety indicators – best compared to Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio. 

Indiana health insurance premiums are below the national average and in line with neighboring states.

Health care expenditures for privately insured Hoosiers are below the national average. 

Indiana hospitals rank fourth highest nationwide for making hospital prices transparent to consumers.

Indianapolis is more competitive than most metros in the country, ranking 150 out of 186 on the Hospital Concentration Index.

But there’s more work to do.

  • Medicare payment to Indiana hospitals for inpatient services only covers 87 cents on the dollar. It is the 5th lowest in the nation – lower than all of our surrounding states.1
  • Indiana Medicaid only covers 57% of the cost of providing care.2 
  • Indiana Medicaid base rates paid to hospitals have not been increased in over 30 years.3
  • Rates paid to Indiana physicians by commercial insurers are the 3rd lowest in the nation, requiring Indiana hospitals to subsidize physician access in Indiana.4
  • Indiana ranks 45th nationally in public health funding, spending only $55 per person, compared to the national average of $91 per person, on public health.5

State Investment Needed

Decades of Medicaid underpayment, low public health funding, and poor physician payment from insurance companies are urgent issues that must be addressed to reduce cost shifting to commercial insurance and ensure Hoosiers have access to high-quality, affordable health care.

Sources: CMS.gov, CMS Medicare PSI-90, and component measures – six-digit estimate dataset, January 6, 2023; Kaiser Family Foundation, Average Annual Family Premium per Enrolled Employee For Employer-Based Health Insurance, 2021; Petris.org, New Evidence about the Heterogeneity of Indiana’s Healthcare Markets:
Competition, Costs, and the Impacts of Market Structure, October 3, 2022; Turquoise Health, Price Transparency Impact Report, Q3 2022; Hospital Concentration Index, Indianapolis Metro, June 2022

Additional Data Sources: 1RAND Hospital Data, 2Indiana Hospital Association, 3Indiana Medicaid, 4Congressional Budget Office, 5Indiana Governor’s Public Health Funding Commission Report