HOSPITAL CHOICE MODELS - A REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF THEIR UTILITY FORPOLICY IMPACT ANALYSIS

The changing competitive hospital environment and recent greater avail ability of patient origin data have stimulated an increased research i nterest in factors influencing the reason patients are admitted to one hospital over another. Hospital marketers and managed care planners s eek information for attracting patients and for negotiating hospital p rovider networks, respectively. Hospital choice models can help regula tors make better informed assessments of the welfare implications of p roposed mergers or closures. The literature shows the development of i ncreasingly sophisticated models and techniques for analysis of hospit al choice. Recent studies have also related the findings to health pol icy issues. This review summarizes the historical developments and the cumulative knowledge gained about hospital choice to date, identifies some key issues in need of greater attention, and assesses the potent ial strengths and limitations of contemporary choice models for making policy impact assessments.