OBJECTIVES: To assess the burden of hospitalizations related to Chronic Hepatitis C (CHC) in France in 2012 and to benchmark it to the 2009 estimate. METHODS: All hospital stays with chronic viral hepatitis C (ICD-10 code B18.2) as principal, related or significantly associated diagnosis were extracted from the PMSI 2012 (French Medical Information System Program) database. Through an algorithm and a medical review, hospitalizations not related to CHC were excluded. Patients were assigned to a liver disease stage: F0-F3; compensated cirrhosis; decompensated cirrhosis; hepatocellular carcinoma; liver transplant. Same database and method (without making the distinction between compensated/decompensated cirrhosis) were used in 2009 allowing descriptive benchmark. Valuation was performed on French official tariffs for 2009 and 2012 and expressed in 2013 value (Euros). RESULTS: