US hospital performance: A dynamic network analysis

Workshop 2013 on Dynamic and Network DEA (January 29-30, 2013)Healthcare is a critical and costly industry. In the U.S. a significant component of healthcare costs are expenses generated in hospitals. This paper reports the results of analyzing 607 U.S. hospitals between 2006-2009 using a dynamic network slack-based Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Model. We find accounting for the dynamic and network structure of the hospital lowers efficiency estimates. Further, hospitals are more efficient at providing hospital services compared to hotel services, but the efficiency of hospitals is not correlated with their size. Regarding the dynamic network slack-based DEA Model, we find slack-based approaches combine technical and allocative aspects of inefficiency and thus tend to have significantly lower efficiency levels than just radial technical efficiency measures. Further when applying an envelopment method like DEA, there are some benefits to averaging multiple years of data to remove variation and avoid estimating a frontier based on observations that might have significant noise in their measurement.This workshop is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 22310092 under the title “Theory and Applications of Dynamic DEA with Network Structure.

Efficiency in the hotel industry: an empirical examination of the most influential factors

The purpose of this article is to provide insights into hotel efficiency and investigate which hotels are performing better. Hotel efficiency is examined using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the outputoriented BCC model is applied on the hotels’ internal accounting information. The study further explores whether there are differences in efficiency between hotels of different size and quality. The results show that average efficiency is high, but not all hotels are performing at their maximum efficiency. A significant relationship between size and hotel efficiency has been found. This study provides a potential framework for efficiency measurement and contributes to the growing body of knowledge in the area of hotel efficiency in the context of a country that is predominantly concentrated on seasonal seaside tourism. The results of this research offer useful insights for hotel managers, suggest ways of enhancing hotel productivity and provide guidance on which aspects to focus their attention in the decision-making process

On the effect of prospective payment system on hospital efficiency and competition for patients in Germany

The introduction of hospital reimbursement based on diagnosis related groups (DRG) in 2004 has been a conspicuous attempt to increase hospital efficiency in the German health sector. In this paper changes of hospital efficiency, quantified as a Malmquist index decomposition in pure technical efficiency change, are analyzed for periods before and after the reform. We implement a two-stage semi-parametric efficiency model that allows for spatial interdependence among hospitals. The results reveal an enhancement in overall efficiency after the DRG introduction. Moreover, an increase in the magnitude of negative spatial spillovers among German hospital performance can be diagnosed. This result is in line with a rise of competition for (low cost) patients. --hospital effciency,data envelopment analysis,spatial analysis,diagnosis related groups

The urban transport companies in Spain: analysis of efficiency with data envelopment analysis.

Purpose This paper aims to define the efficiency achieved by urban transport companies in Spain concerning the resources they use, considering the type of management used for implementation, public-private, and size. Design/methodology/approach This study consisted of an analysis of the efficiency of 229 public-private urban transport operators during the period 2012–2021 using Data Envelopment Analysis, the Malmquist Index and inference estimators to determine productivity, efficiency change into Pure Technical Efficiency Change (PTECH), and scale efficiency change. Findings Based on the efficiency analysis, the authors concluded that of the 229 companies studied, more than 35 were inefficient in all analysed periods. Considering the sample used, direct management is considered significantly more efficient. It cannot be concluded that the size of these companies influences their efficiency, as the data show unequal development behaviours in the studied years. Originality/value This study provides arguments on whether there is a significant difference between the two types of management in the urban transport sector. It also includes firm size as a study variable, which has not been previously considered in other studies related to urban transport efficiency. Efficiency should be a crucial factor in determining funding allocation in this sector, as it encourages operators to optimize and improve their services

Modelling efficient and anti-efficient frontiers in DEA without explicit inputs

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is one of the most widely used tools in efficiency analysis of many business and non-profit organisations. Recently, more and more researchers investigated DEA models without explicit input (DEA-WEI). DEA-WEI models can divide DMUs into two categories: efficient DMUs and inefficient DMUs. Usually there is a set of DMUs, which are ‘efficient’ so that conventional DEA models could not rank them. In this paper, we first develop a performance index based on efficient and anti-efficient frontiers in DEA-WEI models. Further, the corresponding performance index in DEA-WEI models with quadratic utility terms (quadratic DEA-WEI) is proposed also. Finally, we present two case studies on performance assessment of basketball players and the evaluation of research institutes in Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to show the applicability and usefulness of the performance indices developed in this paper

A systematic methodology for the robust quantification of energy efficiency at wastewater treatment plants featuring Data Envelopment Analysis

© 2018. This is the accepted manuscript of the following article: Longo, S., Hospido, A., Lema, J., & Mauricio-Iglesias, M. (2018). A systematic methodology for the robust quantification of energy efficiency at wastewater treatment plants featuring Data Envelopment Analysis. Water Research, 141, 317-328. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.04.067This article examines the potential benefits of using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for conducting energy-efficiency assessment of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). WWTPs are characteristically heterogeneous (in size, technology, climate, function ...) which limits the correct application of DEA. This paper proposes and describes the Robust Energy Efficiency DEA (REED) in its various stages, a systematic state-of-the-art methodology aimed at including exogenous variables in nonparametric frontier models and especially designed for WWTP operation. In particular, the methodology systematizes the modelling process by presenting an integrated framework for selecting the correct variables and appropriate models, possibly tackling the effect of exogenous factors. As a result, the application of REED improves the quality of the efficiency estimates and hence the significance of benchmarking. For the reader's convenience, this article is presented as a step-by-step guideline to guide the user in the determination of WWTPs energy efficiency from beginning to end. The application and benefits of the developed methodology are demonstrated by a case study related to the comparison of the energy efficiency of a set of 399 WWTPs operating in different countries and under heterogeneous environmental conditionsThe authors belong to the Galician Competitive Research GroupGRC2013-032 and the CRETUS strategic partnership (AGRUP2015/02), co-funded by FEDER (EU). Besides, they are supported by ‘ENERWATER’ Coordination Support Action that has received founding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 649819S

Ranking de las bibliotecas universitarias españolas en la gestión del personal

The aim of this work is twofold: first, to identify those Spanish public university libraries that have been the best at efficiently managing their personnel between 2008 and 2012, and can therefore be considered a reference in the area of efficiency improvement. Secondly, to look at the differences in the way personnel is organized between the most and the least efficient libraries. Efficiency was calculated using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In addition, the method used to rank the most efficient libraries consisted of counting the number of reference units, calculating the super-efficiency scores, and applying a cross-evaluation method. On the whole, the libraries analysed show a high global and pure technical efficiency. Of the most efficient libraries, there are two that are at the top of the ranking in each of the years studied. Personnel organization in these two libraries is different from that of the two least efficient centres in the study.Los objetivos de este trabajo son dos. En primer lugar, identificar aquellas bibliotecas universitarias públicas españolas que durante los años 2008 y 2012 han sido las mejores en el ámbito de la eficiencia en su gestión del personal y que, por tanto, pueden ser consideradas como referentes en la mejora de la eficiencia; en segundo término comparar las diferencias existentes en la organización del personal entre las bibliotecas más ineficientes y las más eficientes en dicha área. El cálculo de la eficiencia se ha realizado mediante la técnica de análisis envolvente de datos (Data Envelopment Analisis-DEA); así mismo, para el establecimiento de un ranking entre las bibliotecas eficientes se han utilizado los métodos de contar el número de unidades de referencia, el cálculo de la super-eficiencia y la evaluación cruzada. Las bibliotecas analizadas muestran en su conjunto una eficiencia global y técnica pura alta. De entre las bibliotecas eficientes, dos de ellas ocupan el primer lugar de la clasificación en los dos años estudiados. Estas dos bibliotecas disponen de una organización del personal diferente a las dos consideradas como más ineficientes

Increasing discrimination of DEA evaluation by utilizing distances to anti-efficient frontiers

This paper develops three DEA performance indicators for the purpose of performance ranking by using the distances to both the efficient frontier and the anti-efficient frontier to enhance discrimination power of DEA analysis. The standard DEA models and the Inverted DEA models are used to identify the efficient and anti-efficient frontiers respectively. Important issues like possible intersections of the two frontiers are discussed. Empirical studies show that these indicators indeed have much more discrimination power than that of standard DEA models, and produce consistent ranks. Furthermore, three types of simulation experiments under general conditions are carried out in order to test the performance and characterization of the indicators. The simulation results show that the averages of both the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients between true efficiency and indicators are higher than those of true efficiency and efficiency scores estimated by the BCC model when sample size is smal