Technical and Economic Efficiency in the Production of Health Services. Phase 1: Review of Concepts and Literature, and Preliminary Field Work Design

摘要

This report completes the first phase of the HFS Project's three-phase major applied research project entitled 'Private Sector: Private and Public Differences in Efficiency.' This first phase lays the groundwork for phase two (field work) and phase three (analysis) of the research project. This paper provides a selective review of studies of health service production efficiency that have been performed in developed and developing countries. The review examines techniques used to measure efficiency, methodological problems associated with these measurements, and possible solutions. It also provides information about the efficiency of public and private health services in developing countries. Finally, the report describes opportunities for phase two field work, and discusses efficiency measurement techniques for data analysis. The field work opportunities described are: (1) a comparative study of hospital efficiency in Ecuador for five different types of providers, and (2) a study of productive efficiency for private and public facilities in Senegal, including facilities from various levels.