Cost and technical efficiency of German hospitals

Does ownership matter?

verfasst von

Annika Herr

Abstract

This paper is the first to investigate both the technical and cost efficiency of more than 1500 German general hospitals. More specifically, it deals with the question how hospital efficiency varies with ownership, patient structure, and other exogenous factors, which are neither inputs to nor outputs of the production process. The empirical results for the years from 2001 to 2003 indicate that private and non-profit hospitals are on average less cost efficient and less technically efficient than publicly owned hospitals. The hospital rankings based on estimated efficiency scores turn out to be negatively correlated with average length of stay, which is highest in private hospitals. The results are derived by conducting a Stochastic Frontier Analysis assuming both Cobb-Douglas and translog production technologies and using a newly available and multifaceted administrative German data set.

Externe Organisation(en)

Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Health economics

Band

17

Seiten

1057-1071

Anzahl der Seiten

15

ISSN

1057-9230

Publikationsdatum

09.2008

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Health policy

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 3 – Gute Gesundheit und Wohlergehen

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.1388 (Zugang: Geschlossen)