PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS, HOSPITAL CHARACTERISTICS AND HOSPITAL USE

Previous studies explored two sets of relationships separately-one between patient characteristics and hospital use and the other between hospital characteristics and hospital use. This leaves the following questions unresolved. Is the revealed relationship between patient characteristics and hospital use a reflection of different medical philosophies practiced by individual hospitals whose distinct modes of practices attract patients with distinct characteristics? Looking at the relations from the other side, is the revealed relationship between hospital characteristics and hospital use attributable to the fact that patients at hospitals with different characteristics have different sets of expectations and demands as shaped by their socioeconomic characteristics? To seek answers to these questions, various interaction terms between the variables representing patient characteristics and those for hospital characteristics are formed, and their effects on hospital use arc examined. The results provide some new insights into the consumption theory of hospital services. © Lippincott-Raven Publishers.