Overview of Outcomes for Inpatient Stays Involving Sepsis

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to infection that results in tissue damage and organ failure, and can lead to death. In 2017, there were about 2 million inpatient stays in the U.S. related to sepsis, accounting for 8.8 percent of all hospital costs. One in three patients who died in a hospital had sepsis during their hospitalization. Though traditionally associated with bacterial infection, sepsis can develop from many types of infection, including viral and fungal infections.

Overview of Outcomes for Inpatient Stays Involving Sepsis (PDF, 1 MB), a statistical brief from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, presents national trends in inpatient stays involving sepsis by mutually exclusive patient populations. Sepsis-related inpatient stays were identified by any diagnosis of sepsis. The number of inpatient stays related to sepsis includes hospitalizations in which sepsis was the reason for the stay (i.e., principal diagnosis) or was a co-occurring condition or complication of the stay (i.e., reported as a secondary diagnosis). 

Highlights:

• From 2016 to 2019, the number of all sepsis-related inpatient stays in the U.S. increased by 20.1 percent to 2.1 million stays.
• With the emergence of COVID 19, the number of all sepsis related inpatient stays increased by 16.5 percent from 2019 to 2021 to 2.5 million stays.
• The in-hospital mortality rate for sepsis stays decreased by 17.0 percent from 2016 to 2019 (14.4 to 11.9 per 100 sepsis stays).
• With the emergence of COVID 19, the in-hospital mortality rate for sepsis stays increased from 11.9 per 100 stays in 2019 to 16.5 per 100 stays in 2021.
• Aggregate hospital costs for sepsis stays increased by 66.8 percent from 2016 to 2021 to $52.1 billion.
• In 2020 and 2021, sepsis stays expected to be billed to Medicare accounted for over half of the aggregate hospital costs of sepsis; Medicaid and private insurance each accounted for 20 percent of the aggregate hospital costs for sepsis stays.

Select to access Overview of Outcomes for Inpatient Stays Involving Sepsis (PDF, 1 MB), a statistical brief from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.