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Measuring performance change in Scottish hospitals: a Malmquist and times-series approach

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Abstract

We applied a Malmquist approach to assess levels and change of efficiency and technology in Scottish hospitals. The biased corrected Malmquist index, the efficiency change index, and the technology change index appear to vacillate improving and regressing over the four time intervals with the overall indices (2003–2007). We did not detect steady movement in these measures in one way or another, but we have advanced the literature by employing a time-series trend analysis to gauge changes without the obfuscation by white noise. By using regression, we found a definite and statistically significant trend of improvement, from the first period as it affects the final period of the performance measures. This lends some encouragement to Scottish hospital management that they are doing more with less—which is particularly relevant in times of more austerity in government spending but without a decrease in demand. A longer time period would be necessary in order to ascertain if improvements would be achieved, overall, even with increases and decreases in performance during intervening time periods.

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Notes

  1. A benefit of using these data to study Scottish hospitals, as compared to the usual data employed in studies of U. S. hospitals, is the availability of physicians in the former but due to contractual arrangements missing in the latter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Interdisciplinary Health, Public Health Program, Western Michigan University, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, USA

    Vivian Valdmanis

  2. IESEG School of Management, Lille and Paris, France

    Vivian Valdmanis

  3. Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Michael Rosko

  4. Facoltà di Ingegneria, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Impresa, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Via Politecnico 1, 00133, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Mancuso

  5. School of Management, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 9RJ, Scotland, UK

    Michael Rosko & Manouchehr Tavakoli

  6. Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD, Scotland, UK

    Shelley Farrar

Authors
  1. Vivian Valdmanis
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  2. Michael Rosko
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  3. Paolo Mancuso
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  4. Manouchehr Tavakoli
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  5. Shelley Farrar
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Correspondence to Michael Rosko.

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Valdmanis, V., Rosko, M., Mancuso, P. et al. Measuring performance change in Scottish hospitals: a Malmquist and times-series approach. Health Serv Outcomes Res Method 17, 113–126 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10742-016-0151-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10742-016-0151-y

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