Object To investigate the constitution and expense of inpatient diseases in Jili Community Health Service Center (JCHSC) in Liuyang City of Hunan Province from 2008 to 2010, so as to provide baseline data for further study. Methods The questionnaire was applied and inpatient records in JCHSC between 2008 and 2010 were collected. The diseases were classified and standardized according to the International Classification of Disease, 10th Edition (ICD-10) based on the first diagnosis extracted from discharge records. Such information as general condition, discharge diagnosis and medical expenses etc. were analyzed by using statistic software of Microsoft Excel 2003 and SPSS 13.0. Results a) There were 9 chronic diseases and 6 acute ones among the top 15 single diseases, and both the average hospital stay and per-average hospitalization expense of chronic diseases were higher than those of acute ones (7.8 days vs. 5.6 days; ?2 733 vs. ?1551); b) Per-average expense of drugs as for both acute and chronic diseases accounted for nearly 50% of the total/general expense; c) There were 3 types of treatment models in JCHSC. Model A was only the internal medicine therapy, Model B was internal medicine assisted with surgery, and Model C was surgery assisted with internal medicine therapy; d) In detail, the total per-average expenses in JCHSC between 2008 to 2010 as for each single disease were as follows: coronary heart diseases (CHD, ?2 374 to ?2 680), urinary calculi (?3 268 to ?3 337), chronic bronchitis (?2 452 to ?2 488); e) Per-average hospitalization expenses in internal departments were ?1 719 to ?1 942 for acute diseases and ?2 386 and ?2 523 for chronic ones. Among surgical departments, the per-average hospitalization expenses as for acute diseases and chronic diseases were ?1 438 to ?1 579 and ?3 044 to ?3 607, respectively; and f) The average hospital stay for acute diseases in internal departments were 5.5 to 5.8 days for acute diseases and 6.9 to 7.3 days for chronic ones. By contrast, those in surgical departments were 5.9 to 6.2 days for acute diseases and 8.3 days for chronic ones, respectively. Conclusion a) In JCHSC, a total of 7 inpatient diseases among the top 15 single diseases in 2010 are all chronic with per-average total expense over ?2 000, which is higher than the average level of national CHSC (?2 357.6); b) According to the features of expense constitution models of the inpatient single diseases, the hospitalization expense should be controlled specifically; c) There are 3 kinds of diseases with yearly-increasing per-average total expenses as CHD, hypertension and pulmonary infection during recent 3 years; meanwhile, 4 diseases are with yearly-decreasing per-average total expenses as chronic bronchitis, cholecystolithias or accompanied with cholecystitis, diabetes and inguinal hernia; d) The per-average expenses of chronic diseases in surgical departments are higher than those in internal departments, but those of the acute diseases in surgical departments are lower. Meanwhile, the per-average total expenses as for both chronic and acute diseases in surgical departments present a decline trend year by year. Although the per-average expense on drugs as for both acute and chronic diseases in internal departments show a decline trend, the per-average total expenses indicate an ascending trend; and f) The average hospital stay of chronic diseases is longer than acute ones, while that of the surgical diseases is also longer than internal ones.