Greek hospitals: how well their resources are used

Giokas, D.I.

doi:10.1016/s0305-0483(00)00031-1

Cited by 73 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This is an issue that needs further research. Stochastic demand could be included as one of the explanatory variables into the hospital costs functions in order to investigate whether part of this inefficiency (Athanassopoulos et al, 1999, Giokas, 2001 could be explained by the reserve capacity held by hospitals due to unexpected demand.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, meeting the many health care needs with limited economic resources implies that these resources should be used efficiently. More specifically, in the case of Greece, hospitals use approximately 60% of the total public health expenditures (Giokas, 2001). The size of this amount puts pressure on the MoH to consider a more "rational" allocation of hospital resources.…”

Section: An Evaluation Of the Greek Nhs: The Case Of The Hospital Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a study on the efficient use of resources in Greek hospitals, in 1992, it was found that there was significant room for improvement in many of them (Giokas, 2001). He identified that there was a potential for saving up to 20% on hospital expenditures.…”

Section: Mr D Dritsas Emeritus General Director Of the General Coumentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Greek hospital sector and its cost efficiency problems in relation to unexpected hospital demand: a policy-making perspective

Boutsioli¹

2010

RES

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Public hospitals in Greece are part of a National Health System, established in 1983. This paper presents the hospital sector changes in Greece over the last 20 years, emphasizing cost efficiency. We break down its historical developments into two periods: 1983-1999 and 2000-2008. From the historical review, it is concluded that the system is cost inefficient, based on two components. First, a number of resources are idle, and second, part of the hospital capacity is never used or is misused. However, idle resources and unused stand-by capacity is not a sufficient condition to determine whether a public hospital is running below optimal cost efficiency level. Such a practice could be an optimal (cost efficient) response by hospital managers to meet unexpected demand. This is an issue that needs further research in order to investigate whether part of this inefficiency could be explained by the reserve capacity held by hospitals due to unexpected demand.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: An Evaluation Of the Greek Nhs: The Case Of The Hospital Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Greek hospital sector and its cost efficiency problems in relation to unexpected hospital demand: a policy-making perspective

Boutsioli¹

2010

RES

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“…However, several studies have been conducted in Greece, aiming at the assessment of hospital efficiency using both parametric [54][55][56][57][58] and non-parametric techniques [35,43,44,47,48,59,[60][61][62][63]. Despite the variation in the methodologies used, the findings of the above mentioned studies coincide in hospital inefficiencies [35,43,44,47,48,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. These inefficiencies have resulted in accumulated hospital deficits [36,[64][65][66][67][68] of more than six billion euros in 2010, dramatically affecting the overall national economy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency Assessment across Homogeneous Specialty Clinics in the Region of Thessaly, Greece

Geitona¹

2013

TOPHJ

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Abstract:Background: Hospital care expenditure is the most significant cost driver in the health care sector. Reductions in public hospitals' expenses are among the principal austerity measures included in the memorandum recommendations. However, health policy decision-making seems to be a political rather than a technical issue.Objective: The aim of this paper is to assess performance by using Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) among homogeneous specialties in the General Medicine(GM) and surgical clinics, across all hospitals operating in the Regional Health Authority of Thessaly(RHAT), over the period of [2002][2003][2004][2005][2006].Methods: Two output-oriented DEA models have been adapted, separated in homogeneous GM and surgical clinics, for both constant(CRS) and variable returns to scale(VRS). The unit of analysis is the clinic. A total of 175 decision-making units(DMUs) have been composed. The number of inpatients and inpatient days are considered as outputs whereas the number of the personnel employed and beds as labour and capital inputs respectively.Results: Highest efficiency scores overtime were achieved by the GM clinics of the University District Hospital of Larissa. In surgical specialties, the ophthalmology clinic of the general hospital(GH) of Larissa and the urology of GH of Karditsa achieved the highest efficiency scores. Inefficiencies among GM and surgical clinics per year were also found. Both homogeneous groups followed similar trends in the curves. Five GM and ten surgical DMUs under both VRS and CRS remained fully efficient. Conclusions:The economic crisis Greece is facing, necessitates the assessment of National Health System(NHS) hospitals' performance in order to support health policy decision-making and resources allocation.

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“…Average hospital stays and the number of acute-care beds per thousand population have been scaled back, occupancy rates have increased and these indicators were close to the OECD average in the mid-2000s. Despite these improvements, which in part reflect better clinical practices, efficiency gains of some 20 to 30% of hospital expenditure may be feasible (Aletras, 1999;Giokas, 2001). …”

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confidence: 99%

Improving the Performance of the Public Health Care System in Greece

Economou

Giorno

2009

OECD Economics Department Working Papers

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Greek health outcomes compare favourably with the OECD average. However, the health care system is seen as not working well by the population. One source of dissatisfaction is the high proportion of private household spending on health, including informal payments, while public health spending relative to GDP is one of the lowest in the OECD. This situation leads to inequities in access to certain medical services. Also, there is a weakening of efficiency of the system, which should be addressed sooner than later in view of a rising demand for medical services, which is going to intensify in the coming decades, and the need to keep government health care spending in check. This calls for reforms in four areas: (i) reviewing the excessively fragmented structure of the health care system and its governance; (ii) enhancing the quality of public primary health care services; (iii) modernising hospital administration; and (iv) further tightening control over pharmaceutical expenditure. Améliorer la performance du système public de santé en Grèce Les résultats de la Grèce dans le domaine de la santé se comparent favorablement avec la moyenne de l’OCDE. Cependant, le fonctionnement du système de soins n’est pas satisfaisant selon la population. Une source d’insatisfaction concerne la proportion élevée des dépenses privées de santé des ménages, y compris des paiements informels, alors que les dépenses médicales publiques en proportion du PIB sont parmi les plus faibles de l’OCDE. Cette situation conduit à des problèmes d’équité d’accès à certains services médicaux. On observe aussi une baisse d’efficacité du système à laquelle il import de remédier au plus tôt compte tenu de la hausse de la demande de soins, qui devrait s’intensifier au cours des prochaines décennies et du besoin de contrôle sur la croissance des dépenses publiques de santé. Ceci milite en faveur d’une réforme dans quatre domaines : (i) réviser la structure très fragmentée du système de soins et sa gouvernance; (ii) améliorer la qualité des services publics de soins primaires ; (iii) moderniser l’administration hospitalière ; et (iv) renforcer davantage le contrôle sur les dépenses pharmaceutiques.health care systems, health policy, pharmaceutical expenditure, generic drugs, health insurance funds, prescription system, data envelopment analysis, copayment, National health system, primary health care, hospital, excise tax, general practitioners, medical demography, medical prevention, referral system, système de médecin référent, prévention médicale, démographie médicale, médecins généralistes, accises, hôpital, génériques, caisses d’assurance médicale, copaiement, système national de santé, soins primaires de santé, dépenses pharmaceutiques, analyse par enveloppement des données

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Greek hospitals: how well their resources are used

Cited by 73 publications

References 35 publications

The Greek hospital sector and its cost efficiency problems in relation to unexpected hospital demand: a policy-making perspective

The Greek hospital sector and its cost efficiency problems in relation to unexpected hospital demand: a policy-making perspective

Efficiency Assessment across Homogeneous Specialty Clinics in the Region of Thessaly, Greece

Improving the Performance of the Public Health Care System in Greece

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