ArticleActa informatica medica : AIM : journal of the Society for Medical Informatics of Bosnia & Herzegovina : casopis Drustva za medicinsku informatiku BiH2019
Defining the Optimal Size of Medical Laboratories at the Primary Level of Health Care with Data Envelopment Analysis: Defining the Efficiency of Medical Laboratories.
Article in Acta informatica medica : AIM : journal of the Society for Medical Informatics of Bosnia & Herzegovina : casopis Drustva za medicinsku informatiku BiH, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Application of mathematical models on efficiency evaluation and intervention of medical institutions in China.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- The efficiency of clinical laboratories: the case of Kerman province.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2024Article
- The stochastic frontier analysis technique in measuring the technical and economic efficiency of hospital diagnostic laboratories: a case study in Iran.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2022Article
- Evaluation of Biomedical Laboratory Performance Optimisation using the DEA Method.Zdravstveno varstvo · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAs an integral part of health care, biomedical laboratories are an important contributor to quality patient care. There are only few studies on technical and economic efficiency in the field of laboratory medicine. Nevertheless, such research is crucial to further optimize public resources.
aimThe aim of our research is to create and verify a model for defining the scale efficiency of medical laboratories at the primary level of health care.
methodsTwenty-one laboratories at the primary level of health care in Slovenia were included in the analysis. The efficiency of medical laboratories was determined using data envelopment analysis. We additionally used hierarchical cluster analysis to determine the homogeneous groups within the analyzed sample of units.
resultsWe determined the high technical and pure technical efficiency of the analyzed laboratories. The analysis results showed that changes in work processes represent only a minuscule improvement in efficiency, while more can be achieved through a proper scaling of laboratory services. The impact of the operating scale on the efficiency of laboratories is up to twice as high as the process inefficiency. If we take into account the operating modes of laboratories, the optimal scale of services starts at 237,570 automatic tests.
conclusionsWe note that increased automation and consolidation of laboratory activities could contribute to a greater efficiency of medical laboratories and consequently reduce public spending. DEA is an appropriate tool for the efficiency analysis of public medical laboratories and of appropriate support for policy creation and evaluation in the field of laboratory medicine.
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