Census: Revenue Gap Between Ambulatory Services, Hospitals is Widening

Overall, the broadly defined healthcare and social assistance sector increased revenues by 5.7% in 2008 to $1.75 trillion, up from $1.66 trillion in 2007, Census Bureau data show.

"In spite of only small increases in some industries over the past year, the healthcare sector continues to represent a sizable portion of our economy," said Mark Wallace, chief of the Census Bureau's Service Sector Statistics Division. "At $1.75 trillion, this sector made up 30% of the service sector in 2008, which itself represented about 55% of the economic activity in the United States."

The Census Bureau said it combines healthcare and social assistance into one category because it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the boundaries of these two activities.