This research proposes an approach to measure hospital performance based on a generalization of Banker and Morey (1986) and Førsund (1996). This approach considers quasi-fixed inputs explicitly, calculates their implicit cost, and quantifies returns to scale. The performance measure is...

In this paper, we present the results of an analysis of Québec local health care clinics (CLSC) based on a DEA method. Our results confirm previous results based on econometric methods: (1) increasing returns to scale and scope economies imply that average cost could be lowered through...

This article presents a quantitative analysis of the production of hospital services in a nonmarket environment based on production theory and a very complete data set on the hospital industry. It provides both insights into the optimality of the hospital industry structure and a useful...

This paper examines whether a competitive model of the firm appropriately describes the behavior of hospitals in a non-market environment. This test is based on the best database yet available in the hospital sector. We show that properties of the non-market hospitals'cost functions are...

In this article, we perform a quantitative analysis of the performance of hospital services in a nonmarket environment based on a very complete data set. Evaluating efficiency in a nonmarket system is important since the absence of market mechanisms could yield large inefficiencies. In fact, we...

Using life expectancy as a general health indicator, results suggest that increases in drug spending could be more than offset by decreases in other healthcare spending without affecting the health of the population. This suggests that better access to drugs may be an effective strategy to...

For the last fifteen years, a considerable effort has been made to better measure hospital performance. This effort, however, has not extended to other types of health care facilities which play a growing role following the transformation of the health care system triggered by budgetary...

This paper revisits the relationship between health care spending and health outcomes. While previous researchers found it difficult to establish such a relationship based on international comparisons, the results based on rather homogenous province-specific Canadian data show that lower health...