A COMPARISON OF EFFICIENCY OF HOSPITALS IN THE INDIVIDUAL REGIONS OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC.

The main goal of this paper is to compare the efficiency of health care in the individual regions of the Czech Republic. Key consideration is given to the efficiency of hospitals for these subjects account for more than half of the health care expenses. The DEA method, precisely the input-oriented CCR, was chosen for the analysis. This method allows for the evaluation of several inputs and outputs. For the purpose of our research, we utilized one output, i.e. the number of hospitalized patients, and on the other hand, we examined several inputs, i.e. the number of beds, operating costs and the number of physicians. The analysis showed that the Královehradecký region is the least efficient and, on the other side of spectrum, there are 4 efficient regions - Karlovarský, Ústecký, Vysočina and Zlínský. The level of efficiency in other regions varies between 79,4% and the above-mentioned 100%. Looking at the structure and the number of hospitals in the regions, we cannot see any significant correlation so we cannot say that efficiency is correlated to the number or structure of hospitals in any given region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]