Prospective Payment System Evaluation Studies: Medicare's Prospective Payment System and Changes in the Status of Acute Care Hospitals

摘要

The paper examines the hospitals that changed their acute-care status during the 1980's. It includes hospitals that closed but also ones that opened, merged with another acute-care hospital, split into two or more acute-care hospitals, became a non-acute-care facility, or changed from non-acute to acute-care status. By examining more than closures, the report is broader than other recently published analyses ('Hospitals,' April 5, 1988; Mullner, 1988). On the other hand, by focusing only on acute-care hospitals, it is narrower than other reports, because it ignores changes among specialty hospitals (except for those changing to or from acute-care status). This focus is appropriate, however, because the study is part of an evaluation of the impact of Medicare's prospective payment system on hospitals.