Hospital Closures, Openings, and Mergers during the 1980s.

摘要

In both descriptive and multivariate analyses, this study evaluates significant changes in status and updates trends in closures, mergers, openings and ownership changes of non-federal, short-term, acute-care hospitals and the characteristics of those hospitals for the period 1980-1989. The analyses focus on the factors which cause the loss of patients and, hence, profitability. One important question the study addresses is whether the characteristics of closed hospitals have changed over time. During the period of study, the authors found that inpatient volume declines were greater and simultaneously costs per discharge rose faster for hospitals that eventually closed. Smaller hospitals, both rural and urban, were more likely to close than larger hospitals. Of all events involving a change in hospital status, the most difficult to define is a hospital merger. As defined by the authors, intramarket hospital mergers totaled 129 during the 1980s, with a peak of 31 mergers during 1988.