Hospital efficiency in NZ surprises

Hospital productivity has risen by at least 3 per cent. Photo / File

Victoria University health researchers say hospital productivity in New Zealand rose by more than three to five per cent in the period between 2007 and 2009, challenging perceptions productivity rates in the sector are declining.

A study led by Dr Jaikishan Desai from Victoria's Health Services Research Centre in the School of Government analysed hospital productivity over the three years by looking at the number of people treated as inpatients, outpatients or in emergency departments, for each dollar of expenditure incurred by district health boards.

Dr Desai says that importantly, the study also shows increases in hospital efficiency in the same period.

He says researchers looked at three different measures of efficiency, covering technology change, technical efficiency and allocation of staff and resources, and all showed an improvement between 2007 and 2009.

The team was surprised by the findings, says Dr Desai, and checked the analysis using three different methods, all of which showed significant improvements in productivity and efficiency.

He says there is already international interest in the findings because they run counter to widely held views that hospital productivity is falling in developed countries.

The research also shows the length of inpatient stays is dropping and more people are instead attending outpatient clinics. "Hospitals clearly are trying to shift towards lower cost treatments," says Dr Desai.

The study did not look at how this move is impacting on patient outcomes.

Dr Desai says the research findings are being written up for publication in academic journals.

"Internationally, there is little research on how hospital productivity changes over time despite its implications for funding of health services.

"Hospitals take a big chunk of government spending on health services so it's important to know what value you are getting for the money."

The research was done in collaboration with the University of Auckland and the University of Otago, Christchurch and funded by the Health Research Council.