Analysis on the operating efficiency of traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in poverty-stricken counties in China based on DEA method#br#
LI Yuan1 JIANG Yan1 DONG Shi2 XU Xunhang1 AN Xuzhao1 LOU Cuidi1 CHENG Wei1
1.School of Management, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China;
2.School of Life Science, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China
Abstract Objective To analyze the input and output of traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in 680 poverty-stricken counties in China in 2018, and to analyze the operating efficiency of hospitals in each province, and to propose efficiency improvement measures. Methods This study was carried out in December 2019. Data envelopment analysis was conducted to calculate the efficiency of 680 traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in poverty-stricken counties in China (from 22 provinces) in 2018 by collecting the number of health technicians, beds available, revenue from financial subsidies, total expenditure, total number of patients, and the number of discharged patients. Results Traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in poverty-stricken counties were mainly secondary hospitals. There were great differences in hospital quantity, input-output between eastern, central and western regions. According to data envelopment analysis, 8 of the 22 provinces had comprehensive technical efficiency of 1, and 10 provinces had pure technical efficiency of 1. Among 14 provinces with scale efficiency < 1, 9 provinces showed decreasing returns to scale, while the other 5 provinces showed increasing returns to scale. Conclusion The overall operating efficiency of provincial hospitals is not high, and the technical efficiency and scale efficiency need to be further improved. The state should strengthen technical training for grass-roots health personnel, adopt differentiated strategies for targeted poverty alleviation, increase investment in hospitals in areas with increasing returns to scale, and pay attention to improving the technical management level of hospitals in areas with decreasing returns to scale.
LI Yuan1 JIANG Yan1 DONG Shi2 XU Xunhang1 AN Xuzhao1 LOU Cuidi1 CHENG Wei1. Analysis on the operating efficiency of traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in poverty-stricken counties in China based on DEA method#br#[J]. 中国医药导报, 2022, 19(3): 189-192.
