HERC Average Cost Data

HERC has created estimates of the cost of all VA health care encounters that have taken place since October 1, 1998. The methods used by HERC to create our average cost data sets are more fully described in the page on average cost methods. The HERC inpatient estimates represent the national average cost of a hospital stay given its Diagnosis Related Group, overall length of stay, and days in intensive care. The inpatient estimates are based on analysis of cost-adjusted charges in the Medicare funded stays of veterans in non-VA hospitals. The HERC outpatient file estimates represent the hypothetical Medicare reimbursementaverage given the Current Procedure and Terminology Codes assigned to the VA visit. Both inpatient and outpatient estimates are adjusted so that the estimates tally to actual national VA expenditures for that type of care.

The HERC estimates are available for use by VA researchers. The researcher must follow Federal privacy regulations, obtain access to the VA national computing center, and register with HERC. More details are available on the HERC Intranet site.