Major rural hospitals had the largest share of local use. Intensity of services is closely related to hospital type. Virtually all of the hospitals scoring in the high range of our intensity scale were major rural or intermediate rural hospitals. The lowest intensity scores were recorded by small rural and northern isolated hospitals. After adjusting for differences in hospital type, no one type of hospital appeared less efficient than another.
Discharge efficiency is unrelated to the intensity of services the hospital provides.
Occupancy rates can be a misleading indicator for judging hospital performance. Interpreting the Data First of all, we must emphasize that while this assessment is in many respects a report card, it is in no way an action plan. It gives RHAs the lowdown on how their hospitals are performing and how much use area residents are making of them. It does not offer specific recommendations on what to do with, say, a hospital that ranks low on discharge efficiency and local usage. Such decisions are beyond the scope of this report and are better left up to each RHA with its local perspective on area needs.