Report paints portraits of costliest patients

In a recent New York Times article, a recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality took a look at data collected to analyze the 2 million most expensive stays in short term non-federal hospitals during 2008. Fifty-four percent of the patients were male with an average age of 58, and they were more likely to live in the Western half of the United States. The five most common diagnoses were: sepsis, clogged coronary arteries, heart attack, respiratory failure, and complications arising from the use of a medical device, implant or graph.