Title: Data envelopment analysis of efficiency in hospital organisations

Authors: Antônio Artur De Souza; Douglas Rafael Moreira; Ewerton Alex Avelar; Alisson Maciel De Faria Marques; Amanda Lucchesi Lara

Addresses: Federal University of Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6.627 – Campus Pampulha, Zip Code: 31270-901, Belo Horizonte – MG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil ' Université du Québec – École de Technologie Supérieure, 1100, Notre-Dame Ouest, Zip Code: H3C-1K3, Montréal – QC, Canada ' Federal University of Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6.627 – Campus Pampulha, Zip Code: 31270-901, Belo Horizonte – MG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil ' Federal University of Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6.627 – Campus Pampulha, Zip Code: 31270-901, Belo Horizonte – MG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil ' Federal University of Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6.627 – Campus Pampulha, Zip Code: 31270-901, Belo Horizonte – MG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Abstract: Hospitals have been forced to change because of both users' pressure for higher quality services and regulatory agencies' pressure for better resources management. Notably, low-quality health services are directly derived from poor hospital management and causes substantial user dissatisfaction. Given this context, this paper reports on a performance evaluation of hospitals financed by the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). It analyses 20 hospitals (among public and voluntary hospitals) in seven states from 2008 to 2010. Focusing on the financial management, the analysis builds on a set of operational ratios (i.e., occupancy rate, average length of stay, and full time employees per bed) as inputs, and financial ratios (i.e., EBIT margin, EBITDA margin, return on assets, return on invested capital, and net margin) as outputs. The assessment framework confirms the hypotheses, and shows that financial management efficiency differs between public and voluntary hospitals.

Keywords: efficiency; data envelopment analysis; DEA; financial ratios; operational ratios; public hospitals; voluntary hospitals; healthcare services; hospital management; Brazil; financial management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2014.060831

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2014 Vol.8 No.3, pp.316 - 332

Published online: 30 May 2014 *

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