Delineating hierarchical hospital service areas in Florida

Peng Jia, Fahui Wang, Imam M. Xierali

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)
16 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Hospital service area () and hospital referral region (), known as a hierarchical system, have been used as analysis units in a growing body of large‐scale studies of healthcare spending, utilization, and outcome in the United States. However, the popular Dartmouth s and s were produced more than two decades ago and are unable to represent contemporary healthcare markets. This research uses a revised Huff Model to delineate two levels of hospital service areas in Florida, resulting in sixty‐four s nested in twenty‐one s. Three elements distinguish our method from existing work. First, a best‐fitting distance‐decay function derived from the actual travel pattern of hospitalization is embedded in the Huff Model to strengthen the model's theoretical foundation in individual spatial behavior. Secondly, the hierarchal central place structure is supported by the differing travel‐friction coefficients for general versus specialized patients; general patients experience a steeper gradient and thus a shorter average travel range that supports delineating more s of smaller area size, and specialized patients exhibit a flatter gradient and thus a longer average travel range that leads to fewer s of large‐sized areas. Finally, the delineation method automated in geographic information systems () can be easily replicated in other regions to define large‐scale and consistent hierarchical systems.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)608-623
Number of pages16
JournalGeographical review
Volume107
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • ITC-ISI-JOURNAL-ARTICLE
  • 2023 OA procedure

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Delineating hierarchical hospital service areas in Florida'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this