Variations in rural hospital costs: effects of market concentration and location

Health Care Financ Rev. 1995 Fall;17(1):69-83.

Abstract

This article explores two neglected questions: (1) Does the relationship between hospital concentration and costs vary between urban and rural markets? and (2) Do hospital costs in non-metropolitan areas vary with rurality? Covariance model results using 1992 data reveal that: (1) Although metropolitan and urban markets exhibit a negative relationship between hospital average costs and market concentration, non-metropolitan and rural markets fail to exhibit any relationship between costs and concentration; and (2) among non-metropolitan hospitals, only hospitals located in single-hospital communities have lower costs than their counterparts in multiple-hospital communities, once other factors are held constant.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Catchment Area, Health / economics*
  • Geography
  • Hospital Costs / standards
  • Hospital Costs / statistics & numerical data*
  • Hospitals, Rural / economics*
  • Hospitals, Rural / statistics & numerical data
  • Hospitals, Urban / economics*
  • Hospitals, Urban / statistics & numerical data
  • Models, Economic
  • Models, Statistical
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Regression Analysis
  • United States