Assessing hospital performance by the pabon lasso model

ABSTRACT

The Pabon Lasso model was applied to assess the performance of six State-run hospitals in the province of Kohgilooyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, to produce information that used by policy makers in their attempt to make the health care system more productive. This cross-sectional study involved all the six public hospitals in the province, with 607 registered beds. Data collection accomplished by the use of two ad hoc questionnaires that dealt with both general information and admission data from various hospital wards. The statistical software SPSS-13 used to derive three basic performance indicators, namely average length of stay, bed occupancy rate and bed turnover, which analyzed in Pabon Lasso model. The overall average length of stay, bed occupancy and bed turnover rates were 2.99 days, 62.78% and 76.73 respectively. Two hospitals were in Zone III of the model, indicating a satisfactory level of efficiency. Three hospitals demonstrated inefficiency and underutilization of resources by falling into Zone I. one hospital placed in Zone IV. The best approach to address the existing inefficiencies would lie in stopping the expansion of the current facilities [e.g. not adding any more beds]. As any further expansion will only serve to make hospitals more inefficient. Future research should focus on why the performance is not at a desirable level and how the situation can be improved