Statewide annual hospital charges for acute care of traffic injuries: Nebraska, 2004.

Case-based hospital billing data from the Health Care Utilization Partnership was used to calculate annual statewide hospital charges for the acute care of traffic injuries in Nebraska. E-codes 810.0 through 819.9 identified traffic injury cases. Admissions and emergency department (ED)-only visits for traffic injuries accrued significantly higher charges than other types of care. Statewide, hospital charges for the acute care of traffic injury totaled more than U.S.dollars 63.8 million in 2004. Of this, 23.2% was charged to public payers (Medicare or Medicaid) and 5.5% was charged to self-pay (generally accepted as bad debt absorbed by the hospital system).