Imerman, Mark D.; Eathington, Liesl; Barr, Kanlaya Jintanakul; Otto, Daniel

WP #06023, May 2006

This report provides a spatial representation of hospital geography in Iowa and of the decisions of patients to patronize hospitals. It begins with a brief analysis of hospital proximity and hospital proximity’s relationship to population distributions and existing hospital capacity.  This is followed with a discussion of hospital capacity as a proxy for the supply of hospital services and the construction of hospital service area gravity models based upon capacity.   Patient patronage of hospitals is then presented as a proxy of demand for hospital services, and gravity models are estimated on the basis of patronage. 

JEL Classification: I00

Keywords: healthcare, hospital

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