ArticleBMJ open2026
Operational efficiency in public infectious disease hospitals across 31 provinces in China: a three-phase data envelopment analysis.
Article in BMJ open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveInfectious disease hospitals (IDHs) are core components of the national public health system, and high-quality development (HQD) of IDHs is a priority in this system. This study aimed to systematically analyse the operational status of public IDHs in China and provide empirical references for HQD. DESIGN AND
settingA comprehensive survey approach was adopted to collect operation-related data from 133 public IDHs across 31 provinces in China in 2023. A three-phase data envelopment analysis (DEA) was applied to measure the operational efficiency (OE) of IDHs in each province. Phase 1 calculated raw efficiency and input slacks. Phase 2 eliminated environmental interference to adjust inputs. Phase 3 recalculated adjusted OE.
resultsThe third-phase DEA results indicated that the average values of technical efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE) and scale efficiency (SE) of public IDHs in China were 0.610, 0.681 and 0.914, respectively. The IDHs in Beijing, Hainan, Tianjin, Sichuan and Tibet maintained an effective OE after adjustment for environmental factors. The adjusted mean TE and PTE exhibited a geographic variation of 'East>Central > West > Northeast', while the average SE showed a reverse trend of 'Northeast>Central > West > East'. The stochastic frontier analysis regression results showed that per capita GDP (p<0.001) was significantly positively correlated with OE, while urbanisation level (p<0.001) and the number of participants in basic medical insurance (p=0.025) both exhibited significant negative associations with OE.
conclusionsThe OE of public IDHs in China was generally low. TE was mainly constrained by PTE and exhibited significant regional heterogeneity. Each region should adjust measures to local conditions to reasonably determine the construction scale of IDHs, improve infrastructure and medical equipment and focus on enhancing hospitals' capabilities in refined management and medical technology standards, thereby promoting the HQD of IDHs in China.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.