Comparative Study of Three Commonly Used Methods for Hospital Efficiency Analysis in Beijing Tertiary Public Hospitals, China

• Published in: Chinese medical journal 2015-12, Vol.128 (23), p.3185-3190
• Main Authors: Xu, Guo-Chao, Zheng, Jian, Zhou, Zi-Jun, Zhou, Chuan-Kun, Zhao, Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Annual reports; China; China; Data Envelopment Analysis; Hospital Efficiency; Ratio Analysis; Stochastic Frontier Analysis; Chinese medicine; Comparative analysis; Data envelopment analysis; Efficiency; Health care policy; Health care reform; Health services; Hospitals; Hospitals, Public - methods; Hospitals, Public - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Methods; Original; Pharmacists; Principal Component Analysis; Principal components analysis; Public health; Public hospitals; Quality management; Regression analysis; Software; Stochastic Processes; 中医院; 主成分分析; 北京市; 多指标评价; 常用方法; 效益分析; 数据包络分析法; 类风湿性关节炎
• ISSN: 0366-6999; 2542-5641
• DOI: 10.4103/0366-6999.170279

Background： Tertiary hospitals serve as the medical service center within the region and play an important role in the medical and health service system. They are also the key targets of public hospital reform in the new era in China. Through the reform of health system, the public hospital efficiency has changed remarkably. Therefore, this study aimed to provide some advice for efficiency assessment of public hospitals in China by comparing and analyzing the consistency of results obtained by three commonly used methods for examining hospital efficiency, that is, ratio analysis （RA）, stochastic frontier analysis （SFA）, and data envelopment analysis （DEA）. Methods： The theoretical basis, operational processes, and the application status of RA, SFA, and DEA were learned through literature analysis. Then, the empirical analysis was conducted based on measured data from 51 tertiary public hospitals in Beijing from 2009 to 2011. Results： The average values of hospital efficiency calculated by SFA with index screening and principal component analysis （PCA） results and those calculated by DEA with index screening results were relatively stable. The efficiency of specialized hospitals was higher than that of general hospitals and that of traditional Chinese medicine hospitals. The results obtained by SFA with index screening results and the results obtained by S FA with PCA results showed a relatively high correlation （r-value in 2009, 2010, and 2011 were 0.869, 0.753, and 0.842, respectively, P 〈 0.01）. The correlation between results obtained by DEA with index screening results and PCA results and results obtained by other methods showed statistical significance, but the correlation between results obtained by DEA with index screening results and PCA results was lower than that between results obtained by SFA with index screening results and PCA results. Conclusions： RA is not suitable for multi-index evaluation of hospital efficiency. In the given conditions, SFA is a stable efficiency analysis method. In the evaluation of hospital efficiency, DEA combined with PCA should be adopted with caution due to its poor stability.