Cost efficiency, factor interchange, and technical progress in US specialized hospital pharmacies

Abstract

Specialized hospitals perform unique, technologically more complex, and relatively expensive medical procedures. Growing use of high-cost biotechnology drugs and increased clinical pharmacy tasks at these facilities have increased costs. This paper used a unique data set supplied by Eli Lilly, and a dual translog cost system to model the costs of specialized hospital pharmacy production. Results show that the potential substitution of pharmacy technicians for registered pharmacists and the decomposed technical change savings effects of expensive factors of production offer the greatest opportunities for containing costs. Slight diseconomies of scale were also observed.

Will the real elasticity of substitution ‘in Norwegian dentistry’ please stand up?

“…(Norwegian dentists freely decide how many auxiliaries to employ, as there is currently no professional practice regulation which mandates a ratio of dental auxiliary personnel to dentists [27].) Interestingly, the professional roles of physician assistants at Health Maintenance Organizations [28,29] and pharmacy technicians in US hospitals [30] and Norwegian pharmacies [3] are analogous to those of the Norwegian dental hygienists. None of these auxiliary health care personnel is licensed to operate independently.…”

“…Professional pharmacy practice in Norway is regulated, as only the pharmacists can dispense prescriptions while pharmacy technicians perform a variety of other work in the pharmacies [35] (p. 443). The ratio of pharmacy technicians to registered pharmacists is also a regulated parameter in US hospital pharmacies [30]. Therefore, in addition to licensure, it is the responsiveness of the input ratios (e.g., number of pharmacy technicians per registered pharmacist or staffing ratios in HMOs [28]) that is a matter of practical policy when an input price changes.…”

Production Cost Structure in Us Outpatient Physical Therapy Health Care

“…Past econometric work across several industries, including in healthcare [see, e.g. Suraratdecha and Okunade (), Okunade (), Okunade and Suraratdecha (), Vita (), Reinhardt ()] and other markets [see, e.g. Boluk and Koc (), Kavoi et al .…”

Measuring operational efficiency in a health care system: A case study from Thailand

“…Those based on the SF model include the study of Belgian hospitals [7]. Scott and Parkin [8] modeled the efficiency of UK National Health Service, and Okunade and Suraratdecha [9] assessed operational efficiency in US hospital pharmacies using the TL cost method. Jensen and Morrisey [10] used the translog production model to examine the effects of medical staff doctors on hospital output.…”