The distance behavior of hospital patients: a disaggregated analysis.

Regional health systems planning implicitly incorporates information about the distance behavior of hospital patients, in specifying hospital catchment areas, service-specific catchment areas and levels of centralization. Distance behavior of patients varies depending on their diagnoses and on the treatment and diagnostic procedure(s). In this study, a variety of procedures, ranging from those which are routine to those which are highly specialized, are analyzed within the framework of distance behavior. Regionalization of selected services will, by definition, affect distance behavior.