Table 4. Factors Accounting for Growth in Expenditures for Selected Categories of Total Systems Cost, 1971 to 1981¹.

Factors Accounting for “How” Medical Care Expenditures Rose		Community Hospital Care			Physicians' Services	Dentists' Services	Nursing Home Care Excluding ICF-MR	Total Systems Cost (Personal Health Care)
		inpatient Expenses2		Outpatient Expenses2
		Inpatient Days	Admissions
Economy-Wide factors
1.	General inflation	51.7%	51.7%	41.6%	58.1%	58.6%	53.0%	56.8%
2.	Aggregate population growth	7.2	7.2	5.6	8.1	8.2	7.4	7.9
“Health-Sector Specific” Factors
3.	Growth in per capita visits or patient days	4.2	8.6	17.9	−3.4	14.2	19.8	NA
4.	Growth in real services per visit or per day (intensity)	25.2	20.8	25.3	27.4	17.6	13.1	NA
5.	Medical care price increases relative to general price inflation3	11.7	11.7	9.6	9.8	1.4	6.7	7.0
Addenda: Growth in real services per capita		—	—	—	—	—	—	28.3
Total		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

NA = Not available

¹Total systems cost is called personal health care in Gibson and Waldo (1982).

²Community hospital expenses are split into inpatient and outpatient expenses using the American Hospital Association (1982) procedure.

³See Table A-13 for price variables.