Determining the Adequacy of Operation of DMUs in Health Care

Jože Benčina; Srečko Devjak; Lan Umek

doi:10.7595/management.fon.2014.0031

Jože Benčina University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration
Srečko Devjak University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration
Lan Umek University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7595/management.fon.2014.0031

Abstract

paper selected from the BALCOR 2013 conference

The authors of the article deal with the quantitative analysis of results of the development of health care services. The aim of the article is to determine the key conditions for measuring the results of health system functioning and evaluation of its adequacy. The research question focuses on the method of measuring the
operational efficiency of Slovenian hospitals. The introduction defines efficiency within the concept of adequacy and its dimensions of efficiency, accessibility and quality. The empirical part of the article presents the use of the DEA method for determining the adequacy of operation of hospitals on the basis of data on Slovenian hospitals. It is apparent that the model for the evaluation of adequacy of operation of hospitals is suitable within limitations. The interpretation of results is hampered by inadequately structured data and non-transparent prices of hospital services. Therefore, the results of the research indicate the direction in which thedatabase should be developed to ensure greater comparability in a rather heterogeneous population of hospitals. Furthermore, the authors point out that new indicators, reflecting the condition of the dimensions of adequacy, should be included in the model for the purposes of the evaluation of adequacy. On the basis of the results of the research, the question of implementing suitable methods of planning and controlling the adequacy of the functioning of health care into practice arises.

Author Biographies

Jože Benčina, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration

Jože Benčina, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Administration in the field of economics of the public sector. His research includes methods for the measurement of the public sector performance and methods for the optimisation of decision making in the public sector with the use of fuzzy logic. Within his research, he developed and applied special models, such as decision making model for local governments, balanced scorecard for
the public sector based on the model of fuzzy aggregation trees and indicators of investment efficiency in healthcare.

Srečko Devjak, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration

Srečko Devjak gained more than twenty years of experience in the field of quantitative analyses as a consultant in central Slovenian consulting institutes and companies in the field of economics and organisation in entrepreneurship. From 1992 to 2013, he was employed at the University of Ljubljana as a higher education lecturer for the field of quantitative analyses and optimisations. For several years, he was the Dean and Vice
Dean at the Faculty of Administration, where he focused on the field of management, quality and partnership of higher education institutions. He lectures at various European universities and institutes as a visiting lecturer. He is now the Dean of the MLC College of Management and Law Ljubljana

Lan Umek, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration

Lan Umek, PhD, is a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Administration in the field of economics of the public sector where he holds practical work classes in statistics and quantitative methods. He obtained his BSc degree in Mathematics in 2005 and his PhD degree in Statistics in 2011 at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. His research includes subgroup discovery methods, data mining and other optimization approaches in biological (wine production, genotype-phenotype associations) and administrative sciences (quality of governance, EU countries, questionnaire analysis).