The description of patient travel patterns and variations in health care utilization may guide a sound health care planning process. In order to accurately describe these differences across regions with homogeneous populations, small area analysis (SAA) has proved as a valuable tool to create appropriate area models. This paper presents the methodology to create and characterize population-based hospital service areas (HSAs) for Switzerland.
Institute for Evaluative Research in Orthopaedic Surgery (IEFO), University of Bern, Stauffacherstrasse 78, CH-3014 Bern, Switzerland. Gunnar.Klauss@memcenter.unibe.ch
