Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics for U.S. Short-Term General Hospitals

Variable	Data Source	Mean for Rural Hospitals	Mean for Urban Hospitals
Population density (persons per square mile)	ARF	45.79	1,965.7
No hospitals within 15 miles	AHA		0.10
1–3 hospitals within 15 miles	AHA		0.32
4–7 hospitals within 15 miles	AHA		0.19
8–25 hospitals within 15 miles	AHA		0.27
26 or more hospitals within 15 miles	AHA		0.12
No hospitals within 30 miles	AHA	0.11
1–3 hospitals within 30 miles	AHA	0.37
4–6 hospitals within 30 miles	AHA	0.37
7 or more hospitals within 30 miles	AHA	0.14
Adjacent to metro area	ARF	0.55
<50 beds	AHA	0.59	0.10
51–100 beds	AHA	0.24	0.15
101–200 beds	AHA	0.14	0.30
201–400 beds	AHA	0.03	0.32
More than 400 beds	AHA	0.00	0.14
Price index	PPS	0.89	1.02
Affiliated with medical school	AHA	0.02	0.31
Major teaching hospital	AHA	0.00	0.10
COTH hospital	AHA	0.00	0.11
COTH hospital exists within 100 miles	AHA		0.92
Nonprofit hospital	AHA	0.50	0.67
For-profit hospital	AHA	0.09	0.20
Public hospital	AHA	0.41	0.13
Case mix	PPS	1.11	1.41
HMO penetration rate	InterStudy	(NA)	0.39
Share of hospital admissions that are Medicaid	AHA	0.14	0.15
Share of hospital admissions that are Medicare	AHA	0.52	0.41
Staff-to-bed ratio	AHA	4.19	4.75
Average length of stay (days)	AHA	5.86	5.44
Transplant services	AHA	0.02	0.15
Burn unit	AHA	0.01	0.05
Trauma center	AHA	0.15	0.27
Geriatric services	AHA	0.31	0.53
Pediatric services	AHA	0.47	0.65
Intensive care services	AHA	0.64	0.94
Neonatal services	AHA	0.08	0.41
Reproductive services	AHA	0.69	0.81
Psychiatric services	AHA	0.19	0.49
Invasive cardiac services	AHA	0.12	0.60
Radiation therapy services	AHA	0.10	0.41
Postacute care services	AHA	0.71	0.72
Outpatient services	AHA	0.97	0.99
Emergency department	AHA	0.96	0.97
Basic imaging services	AHA	0.91	0.98
Specialized imaging services	AHA	0.39	0.73
Disease-specific care services	AHA	0.50	0.84