Using California hospitals, this study examines both on a cross-sectional and time-series basis the influence bed size and system affiliation have on financial structure. Specifically, the study classifies these hospitals into eight bed size and system categories ranging from less than 100 bed, free-standing hospitals to over 400 bed, system-affiliated hospitals. Somewhat unexpectedly, the results did show that the total debt ratio for smaller, free-standing hospitals did not differ statistically from larger free-standing and system hospitals. However, smaller system-affiliated hospitals did have higher total and long-term debt ratios than larger, system-affiliated and free-standing hospitals.
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