Measuring Efficiency in Health Care
Analytic Techniques and Health Policy

This 2006 book is an assessment of the strengths and limitations of efficiency analysis as applied to health care.

Rowena Jacobs (Author), Peter C. Smith (Author), Andrew Street (Author)

9780521851442, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 June 2006

262 pages, 42 tables
23.4 x 15.4 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

' … the most important techniques currently available to measure the efficiency of systems and organizations …' International Social Security Review

With the healthcare sector accounting for a sizeable proportion of national expenditures, the pursuit of efficiency has become a central objective of policymakers within most health systems. However, the analysis and measurement of efficiency is a complex undertaking, not least due to the multiple objectives of health care organizations and the many gaps in information systems. In response to this complexity, research in organizational efficiency analysis has flourished. This 2006 book examines some of the most important techniques currently available to measure the efficiency of systems and organizations, including data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis, and also presents some promising new methodological approaches. Such techniques offer the prospect of many new and fruitful insights into health care performance. Nevertheless, they also pose many practical and methodological challenges. This is an important critical assessment of the strengths and limitations of efficiency analysis applied to health and health care.

Figures
Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Efficiency in health care
2. The components of an efficiency model
3. Stochastic frontier analysis of cross-sectional data
4. Stochastic frontier analysis of panel data
5. Data envelopment analysis
6. The Malmquist Index
7. A comparison of SFA and DEA
8. Unresolved issues and challenges in efficiency measurement
9. Some alternative approaches to measuring performance
10. Conclusions
Appendix
References
Author index
Subject index
Acronyms.

Subject Areas: Applied mathematics [PBW], Probability & statistics [PBT], Medicine: general issues [MB], Economic statistics [KCHS], Microeconomics [KCC]