Spending on home healthcare has grown by 24.8% over the past 18 months, more than double the growth in personal healthcare spending overall, which grew by 11.4% over the same period, according to Altarum’s monthly Health Sector Economic Indicators brief, released Friday.

Spending on nursing home care was the second fastest-growing among the major healthcare categories. Spending on nursing home care grew by 13.4% over the same time period, 11.4 percentage points below home healthcare. 

Year over year, national health spending grew by 7.2% through November 2024, according to the report.

“Among major spending categories, annual growth through November 2024 was again greatest for home healthcare, at 10.1%,” Altarum Fellow and Senior Researcher George Miller told the McKnight’s Business Daily.

Healthcare costs in December were 2.7% higher than in December 2023. Year over year, hospital care led the increase, at 3.3%, followed by dental services, at 3%. Prescription drug prices were the slowest growing, at 1.1%.

“Economy-wide inflation rose, with year-over-year growth in the overall Consumer Price Index increasing by 0.2% to 2.9% and growth in the Producer Price Index increasing 0.3% to 3.3%. This extends the recent overtaking of general inflation over the Health Care Price Index seen last month,” according to Altarum.

Employment in healthcare grew by 46,100 jobs in December, down from job growth of 53,600 positions in November. Meanwhile, employment in nonhealthcare industries increased by 209,900 jobs in December, up from job growth of 173,400 positions in November.

December’s healthcare job growth was led by ambulatory healthcare services, which Miller said includes home healthcare. The ambulatory healthcare services area added 20,600 jobs, followed by the nursing and residential facilities area, which added 14,000 jobs. Hospitals added 11,500 jobs. 

“While employment in nursing and residential care facilities has been growing, it remains 1% below its pre-pandemic peak in February 2020,” Miller said.

In November, year-over-year wage growth in the healthcare industry was 4%, including 4% wage growth in nursing and residential care facilities and 3.6% wage growth in ambulatory healthcare services, which Miller said includes home healthcare, and 4.4% wage growth in hospitals. 

Altarum’s monthly HSEI briefs analyze the most recent data available on health sector spending, prices, employment and utilization. Support for the work is provided by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.