Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies have been pushing through hefty price increases aimed at bolstering earnings, even as government and private insurers are struggling to rein in healthcare costs. Drug makers increased prices on drugs like Viagra and the leukemia pill Sprycel by more than 20% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to data from Credit Suisse. Meanwhile, one of the largest hospital owners in the country, HCA Inc., said Tuesday it expects to report higher revenue for the first quarter even though it had fewer hospitals and its admissions declined. It also said its income before taxes had nearly doubled. [hospital drug costs] The prices of a dozen top-selling drugs increased by double digits in the first quarter from a year earlier. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Sprycel was up 32.7%, and Pfizer Inc.’s Sutent rose 14.3%. Erectile-dysfunction medicines are also getting pricier, including Pfizer’s Viagra, up 20.7%, and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Cialis, up 14.2%. Another costlier class of medicines is used to treat attention-deficit disorder, such as Lilly’s Strattera, whose price has increased 15.6% over the past year. Express Scripts Inc., one of the country’s largest pharmacy-benefits managers, said it saw prices rise more […]