Title: Measuring performance in non-profit organisations: the case of Greek public hospitals

Authors: Maria Kalogeropoulou; Anthony Ioannidis; Panos Mourdoukoutas

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission Str., GR10434, Athens, Greece ' Department of Business Administration, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission Str., GR10434, Athens, Greece ' Post Economics Department, Long Island University, CW Post Campus, 720 Northern Boulevard, Brookville, New York, 11548, USA

Abstract: This paper examines how efficiently 26 public general hospitals of the Greek National Health System (ESY) manage their resources, in 2009, and looks into how variables, such as hospital size, location, teaching mission, bed occupancy rate and average length of stay, are interrelated with efficiency scores. Data examination takes place through data envelopment analysis and Tobit regression analysis. The selected variables used to illustrate production are: number of beds and personnel (headcount) as inputs and as outputs number of patient admissions, number of patient days and number of outpatient visits. The DEA model is input and output oriented, allowing for constant return to scale, and units are ranked with a benchmarking approach. The results show that 34.6% of Greek hospitals are efficient, with a mean efficiency score of 88.9%, and confirm that hospital's bed occupancy rate, average length of stay and teaching mission are significant explanatory variables of technical efficiency.

Keywords: Greece; data envelopment analysis; DEA; hospital efficiency; public hospitals; public healthcare; performance measurement; Greek NHS; National Health System; non-profit organisations; benchmarking; bed occupancy rate; average length of stay; healthcare research; hospital size; hospital location; teaching mission; technical efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBHR.2012.051381

International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research, 2012 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.212 - 225

Published online: 20 Aug 2014 *

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