Abstract
Hospital costs and productivity in multihospital systems versus those of independent hospitals are a major source of debate among health care providers and researchers. Previous studies have shown system hospitals perform better than independent hospitals. The evidence, however, has been limited to only a few nonprofit systems. To help fill this research gap, approximately 100 system hospitals from 14 systems and 4 ownership types are compared with approximately 50 independent hospitals using cost and productivity data from one year. The results show that system hospitals realize both significantly higher cost and higher productivity levels, except for county-owned facilities which have lower costs and insignificantly different productivity levels. Factors that help explain these results are discussed and directions for further research are suggested.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Cleverley W. O. Reimbursement management. Top Health Care Financ. 1977 Fall;4(1):13–28. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Coyne J. S. Multihospital system types: comparing costs and occupancy. Hosp Prog. 1980 Jan;61(1):50–53. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ferber B. An analysis of chain-operated for-profit hospitals. Health Serv Res. 1971 Spring;6(1):49–60. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lewin L. S., Derzon R. A., Margulies R. Investor-owneds and nonprofits differ in economic performance. Hospitals. 1981 Jul 1;55(13):52–58. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Malm H. M. Systems can reduce costs, but need incentives for future development. Hospitals. 1977 Mar 1;51(5):63–67. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]