Title

Determinants of hospital choice of rural hospital patients: The impact of networks, service scopes, and market competition

Authors

Authors

C. Y. Roh; K. H. Lee;M. D. Fottler

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Med. Syst.

Keywords

hospital choice; hospital competition; conditional logistic regression; rural hospitals; HEALTH-CARE; MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES; OBSTETRICS CARE; COST INFLATION; MANAGED CARE; FOR-PROFIT; CALIFORNIA; RISK; PENETRATION; BEHAVIOR; Health Care Sciences & Services; Medical Informatics

Abstract

Among 10,384 rural Colorado female patients who received MDC 14 (obstetric services) from 2000 to 2003, 6,615 (63.7%) were admitted to their local rural hospitals; 1,654 (15.9%) were admitted to other rural hospitals; and 2,115 (20.4%) traveled to urban hospitals for inpatient services. This study is to examine how network participation, service scopes, and market competition influences rural women's choice of hospital for their obstetric care. A conditional logistic regression analysis was used. The network participation (p < 0.01), the number of services offered (p < 0.05), and the hospital market competition had a positive and significant relationship with patients' choice to receive obstetric care. That is, rural patients prefer to receive care from a hospital that participates in a network, that provides more number of services, and that has a greater market share (i.e., a lower level of market competition) in their locality. Rural hospitals could actively increase their competitiveness and market share by increasing the number of health care services provided and seeking to network with other hospitals.

Journal Title

Journal of Medical Systems

Volume

32

Issue/Number

4

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

343

Last Page

353

WOS Identifier

WOS:000256522000009

ISSN

0148-5598

Share

COinS