Consumer prices in hospital services saw a 0.1 percent increase last month, compared with 0.6 percent in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.
October of 2011 also saw a 0.6 percent increase. During the year ending in October, hospital consumer prices went up 4.5 percent, compared with the previous year’s 5.4 percent.
Inpatient hospital consumer prices went down last month by 0.2 percent, and had increased in September by 0.5 percent. Outpatient hospital consumer prices went up 0.2 percent in October and 0.7 percent in September.
As for consumer prices for physician services, October remained flat with September saw an increase of 0.5 percent. October 2011 saw an increase of 0.5 percent as well. For the year ending last month, physician CPI increased 2.4 percent, while the previous year showed 2.7 percent.
