Factors in the utilization of the small non-metropolitan hospital in Alberta, Canada.

This paper examines factors which determine the utilization of the small (100 beds or less) non-metropolitan acute care hospital. Explanatory variables represent both demand and supply dimensions. Measures of utilization include average length of stay and per capita patient days, separations, surgical visits, mothers delivered and emergency outpatient visits. The analysis used multiple regression and explained from 62 to 93% of the variation in the utilization measures. Both supply and demand variables showed considerable predictive power. Key explanatory variables include bed supply, patient flow, population characteristics (especially age) and physician manpower.