title: The determination of average hospital length of stay: an economic approach.
abstract: The observed variation in length of hospital stay across the regions of the country has long been of interest to regulators, providers, and third party payors in the hospital industry. The purpose of this article is to provide an economic model of hospital and industry behavior within which these variations can be explained. The model is tested using state data for the year 1973. The model performs well, although the theoretical role of the occupancy rate suggests that additional testing is warranted.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hartman
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Watts
mesh_terms: D001509:Bed Occupancy; D006285:Health Planning; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010343:Patient Admission; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014481:United States