I worked on the tech-side of healthcare informatics with researchers and healthcare economists. What you say is correct. The cost/benefit ratio of hospital admittance and hospital stays has been quantified to an alarming degree. Not that we shouldn't be looking at such costs, but I feel as though it should involve some level of humanity. The other, often overlooked angle of healthcare in the U.S. is the dynamic at play between for-profit and non-profit hospitals. Both of which require and actively seek profit of course. As others have stated - we need a complete overhaul of the healthcare system here. Something that would require a Teddy Roosevelt-esque stature of a man (or woman) to get started.