An analysis of market shares of Maryland hospitals in their service areas.

The study analyzes market shares (or competitiveness) of Maryland hospitals based on a service area definition of hospitals used for acute care planning in Maryland. The study uses this service area definition to analyze market shares of Maryland hospitals, to test them under alternative hypotheses and, finally, to examine the impact of several key variables. The study finds that proximity of other hospitals, and hospital's occupied bed size, have statistically significant impacts on market shares of hospitals irrespective of hospital location in a metropolitan or rural area.