Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Department

Health Services and Policy Management

First Advisor

Samuel L. Baker

Abstract

This study investigates the financial performance and resource utilization of American hospitals. To compare performance, hospitals were categorized into independent, networks, and system hospitals, based on structure and characteristics. For the study acute care general hospitals in 100 largest cities in the United States are selected, and factors influencing financial performance and resources utilizing efficiency are identified. The 2007 AHA annual survey, Medicare claims report, and CMS data are used for this study. In initial comparison of each type of hospitals, not only pure network members showed a significant positive difference in cash flow, but also pure system members revealed a significant positive difference in prices and costs. After controlling the control factors to perform regression analysis, however, only independent hospitals had a significantly positive relationship with cash flow. Profitability of network members had a significantly positive relationship with occupancy rate after controlling the control factors. In addition, network hospitals showed efficiency in length of stay although it was not statistically significant.

Rights

© 2010, Hae Ho Lee

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