Efficiency analysis of medical equipment deployment in Liaoning province based on data envelopment analysis / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To learn the present efficiency of medical equipments at public hospitals in Liaoning province, and provide scientific basis for rational distribution of such resources, and for control of medical expenses.Methods Data envelop analysis (DEA) was used to appraise the deployment efficiency of 2 784 such equipments worth over 100 000 yuan per unit, with equipments randomly sampled from 31 public hospitals in the province.Results The equipment deployment at public hospitals in Liaoning was found at a low level.9.7% of the hospitals were found as relatively efficient, 3.2% of them as in relatively weak efficiency, while 87.1% of them relatively inefficient.Gaps were found between urban hospitals and tertiary hospitals, and rural hospitals and secondary hospitals in their deployment efficiency, as evidenced in overinvestment of equipments and insufficiency of competent operators.Conclusions Hospitals should strengthen their scientific management of the equipments, and emphasize human resource investment, thus elevating the efficiency of equipment deployment.