Income, location, and the demand for health care from public, nonprofit, and for-profit hospitals.
Although, empirically, for-profit hospitals serve few poor and indigent patients, they may be able to shift capital more quickly than hospitals of other ownership types, thereby spatially avoiding poor patients. However, in a market with a relatively high proportion of for-profit hospitals, spatial avoidance of poor patients is not possible because spatial competition will exist in non-poor areas. The study examines hospital choice for maternity care in a market with many for-profits using a gravity model or conditional logit. The analysis shows that poor and Medicaid populations choose for-profit hospitals overall. Income, along with distance, is an important factor in hospital choice.
Brown
H S
HS
Department of Economics, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia. s.brown@economics.uq.edu.au
D002391:Catchment Area, Health / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004465:Economic Competition; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006777:Hospitals, Proprietary / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007350:Insurance, Hospitalization; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D016015:Logistic Models; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008484:Medicaid; D010067:Ownership / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013714:Tennessee