title: The relationship between bed size and profitability in South Carolina hospitals.
abstract: The purpose of the study is to identify factors affecting hospital profitability and to find the optimal hospital bed size that assures maximum profit. This is a cross-sectional study using survey data obtained from acute care hospitals in South Carolina in 1997. The relationship of hospital profitability and hospital bed size revealed that when bed size increases, hospital profitability increases, decreases, and then increases again. For the patient profit proportion, the turning points in bed size are 238.22 and 560.08. For the total profit proportion, the turning points in bed size are 223.31 and 503.86. The results on the relationship between bed size and hospital profitability indicate that medium-size hospitals have less profitability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Administration School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Yang K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Saundra H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Glover
authors.forename: Carleen H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Stoskopf
authors.forename: Suzan D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Boyd
mesh_terms: D016542:Chief Executive Officers, Hospital; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004469:Economics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006302:Health Services Research; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006752:Hospital Planning; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D010067:Ownership; D005791:Patient Care / Q000191:economics*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013022:South Carolina; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires