cms average cost of inpatient hospital stay
1 Medicare beneficiaries paid an average of $725 per inpatient stay, [21] compared to $410 for each observation stay (and $528 if drug costs were included in each observation stay). [ 2 22].hort inpatient stays were often for the same reasons as observation stays. [19]. The Medicare program and Medicare beneficiaries pay more for short inpatient stays than for observation stays: 1  The Medicare program paid an average of $5,142 for each short inpatient stay, compared to $1,741 for each observation stay.