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

    Authors

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

    Comments

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    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

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