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Vol. 53 No. 1 (2017)
Original Articles
2017-06-06
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Hospital efficiency: How to spend less maintaining quality?

Authors

Paolo Campanella , Elena Azzolini , Alessio Izzi , Ferruccio Pelone , Concetta De Meo , Daniele La Milia , Maria Lucia Specchia , Walter Ricciardi

Keywords: Hospital care, Technical efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, Italy

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The recent global economic crisis is pushing governments worldwide to obtain a more explicit and urgent rationing of resources. The purpose of this study is to provide, through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a methodological framework useful for investigating technical efficiency of hospital care.

METHODS: To validate such framework, we compared 50 Italian public hospital trusts (AOs) to identify relative efficient using inputs and outputs from national databases. We also evaluated if, and how, efficiency is affected by various exogenous factors.

RESULTS: On average, Italian AOs had an efficiency score of 77% (SD 0.12). Tobit regression model identified a positive association between efficiency and a lower case-mix index, being in the north of the country, in a region with fiscal autonomy, with a higher public and a lower private expenditure on health as % of GDP.

CONCLUSIONS: DEA may provide useful and especially objective information regarding the technical efficiency of hospital care and support hospital management and policy makers decisions.

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Authors

Paolo Campanella - Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168 Roma, Italia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2822-030X

Elena Azzolini - Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168 Roma, Italia

Alessio Izzi - Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168 Roma, Italia

Ferruccio Pelone - Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168 Roma, Italia

Concetta De Meo - Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168 Roma, Italia

Daniele La Milia - Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168 Roma, Italia

Maria Lucia Specchia - Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168 Roma, Italia

Walter Ricciardi - Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Roma, Italia

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite
Campanella, P., Azzolini, E., Izzi, A., Pelone, F., De Meo, C., La Milia, D., Specchia, M. L., & Ricciardi, W. (2017). Hospital efficiency: How to spend less maintaining quality?. Annali dell’Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, 53(1), 46–53. Retrieved from https://annali.iss.it/index.php/anna/article/view/295
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