The Trend of the Specialization of Hospitals in 2003 to 2005 in Metropolitan Cities

Abstract

Three measures of hospital service mix, focusing on the specialization of services, were applied: information theory index, internal Herfindahl index, and number of distinct diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) treated. National Health Insurance claims were used to calculate the indexes. Specialization indexes were calculated in each year, and then examined to identify the pattern over time. Kappa analysis was applied to assess the agreements of specialization score between two years after hospitals were categorized