Health insurers, investment analysts, healthcare consultants, and large employers rely on the unparalleled quality of Milliman's healthcare data and expertise presented in Health Cost Index™ (HCI™) and Health Cost Index Report™ (HCIR™). As sudden industry changes and double-digit growth rates become common, where your business is headed is often more important than where it is today. Milliman's insight into health costs and trend analysis is more valuable now than ever.

Index sets an industry standard for benchmarking costs

HCI is Milliman's proprietary measure of healthcare cost changes. First published in 1988, it uses data gathered from hospitals, physicians, and pharmacies to capture fluctuations in healthcare costs per capita for the overall U.S. population (excluding Medicare).

The Index incorporates changes in utilization and intensity that are not reflected in standard medical price indices. It measures the market average rate of increase in medical costs for standard fixed medical benefit plans and analyzes the growth rate in medical consumption by evaluating how fast provider net revenues increase. This inherently captures changes in price, utilization, and mix and intensity of service changes. Milliman uses this tool for analyzing industry-wide trends, published in HCIR, and for developing customized benchmarks for healthcare organizations.

Going beyond standard calculations to deep trend analysis

HCIR is published quarterly and employs data collected through the previously ended quarter, making it a timely source of information on healthcare trends. More importantly, HCIR provides projections of the direction and relative change in future healthcare trends, based on economic variables that explain the movement of healthcare costs. The data, presented by benefit type, can be used at varying levels for benchmarking or forecasting healthcare trends of various payers.