The technical efficiency of Public Libraries in the Czech Republic

The purpose of this article is to define and evaluate the development of the aggregated technical efficiency of public libraries in the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2014. To simulate technical efficiency, the Data Envelopment Analysis Model (The BCC model) was chosen. To evaluate the production units (the unit of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2014 and its production is given by the sum of real homogenous units, i.e. the public libraries operating in a given area and in a given time), two input variables (the recalculated number of employees and the library collection) and two output variables (the number of registered readers and the number of loans) were analysed. Two basic models were simulated – the M1 model oriented to inputs and the M2 model oriented to outputs. Correlation between the input and output variables was researched using Pearson’s coefficient. Within the range of the M1 and M2 basic models, partial models were simulated. All of the basic and partial models identically showed eight efficient periods of public libraries in the Czech Republic (1995, 1997, 1999–2000, 2002–2005). Public libraries were, according to the chosen variables, inefficient in the remaining 16 observed years

Benchmarking a jeho vliv na výkonnost úřadů obcí s rozšířenou působností

Paper deals with the application of benchmarking in the practice of the selected type of public administration institutions in the Czech Republic – authorities of municipalities with extended powers. Benchmarking belongs to methods of increasing quality of public administration which are applied in terms of public administration institutions in the Czech Republic since the year 2000, particularly in conditions of territorial self-government authorities. Aim of the paper is to describe and evaluate benefits of benchmarking for improving the performance and quality of authorities of municipalities with extended powers. In the first part of the paper, there are defined basic theoretical postulates in the view of types, application and possibilities of benchmarking, both in general and also in terms of public administration. Following parts of the paper are focused on the evaluation of questionnaire survey conducted in 2010 among the active authorities of municipalities with extended powers in the area of benchmarking, mainly through the means of correlation analysis

The efficiency and public transport accessibility of indirect state administration in the Czech Republic

This paper examines the efficiency and public transport accessibility of indirect (devolved) state administration performed by municipalities with extended powers (hereinafter MEPs) in the Czech Republic. Our aim is to evaluate the efficiency of the revenues made by municipalities with extended powers, through performing powers delegated to them by the state administration, and those municipalities' public transport accessibility as of 31 December, 2014. The rate of efficiency is tested on an output-oriented Free Disposable Hull model. One input variable is selected - the operating expenses of the municipal offices recalculated per inhabitant of the municipality's administrative district - and two output variables are selected: contribution to the performance of state administration, recalculated per inhabitant of the municipality's administrative district, and revenues from administrative fees per inhabitant of the municipality's administrative district. The municipality's offices' transport accessibility is evaluated via network analysis using ArcGIS software. The article investigates the hypothesis that public administration deconcentration practices logically result in higher security costs and therefore inefficiency. The results reveal that only 66 of the country's 205 MEPs are efficient and that operating expenses and state contributions for the performance of state administrative tasks play a significant role in these results. Efficiency is less significantly influenced by administrative fee revenues. Public transport accessibility is analyzed for two time intervals - 6: 00 to 8: 00 am and 1: 00 to 2: 00 pm - on Tuesdays. The degree of accessibility is defined using a six-point scale of accessibility. The results show that the best accessibility is in the morning hours, when the offices are accessible for 68.8% of the population aged 15+ in the Czech Republic; the worst accessibility is in the afternoon hours when only 2% of the population aged 15+ can access the offices.Web of Science16215613

Information gaps in the market for social services: retirement homes in the Czech Republic

The research address a partial issue of market failure in the form of information asymmetry. Within the public sector, social services, together with health services, belong to typical sectors where the information superiority of supply against demand is detected. The presence of asymmetrical/imperfect information within the social care has a significant effect on retired people who demand the services of retirement homes, and this effect occurs before as well as during the consumption of this service. The paper aims to identify and evaluate the information gaps of 159 official websites of retirement homes in the Czech Republic that are related to the supply of offered services. The evaluated websites of the retirement homes were selected in a way including all three types of the legal form of retirement homes (semi-budgetary units of regions, limited liability companies, church legal entities) that are present in this category of social services in the Czech Republic. The multi-criteria evaluation, performed by using the TOPSIS method, included 14 types of information (criteria). The TOPSIS method is based on the selection of the variant that is the closest one to the ideal variant and that is characterized by a vector. The results show that retirement homes insufficiently disclose several types of information. These include the conditions of acceptance into the retirement home, annual reports, some types of contact information, internal rules of the home, and the electronic link for the communication with the retirement home. In relation to the evaluation of the total level of 14 types of information being disclosed on the websites of retirement homes, it was revealed that 3% of them achieve an excellent level, 30% achieve a lesser than excellent level, 60% achieve a low level, and 7% of retirement homes achieve a very low level.Web of Science19319117

The technical and allocative efficiency of the regional public galleries in the Czech Republic

The regional public galleries in the Czech Republic belong to the most important and the biggest institutions of their kind. The article deals with the assessment of the technical and allocation efficiency of 19 regional public galleries for the period between 2011 and 2015 from the perspective of the static as well as the dynamic efficiency. For the estimation of the efficiency according to the specific inputs and outputs, the Data Envelopment Analysis model and the Malmquist Index were used. In 2015, four galleries were fully technically efficient, and the average efficiency of the set being assessed was 70%. In 2015, in comparison with 2011, 11 public galleries improved their productivity. In 2015, seven galleries reached the full allocation efficiency, and the average efficiency was 90%. In 2015, in comparison with 2011, 12 public galleries improved their efficiency.Web of Science112art. no. 2158244021100922

Efficiency of human resources in public hospitals: An example from the Czech Republic

Healthcare is a highly sophisticated segment of the public sector, which requires not only highly professional and competent staff, but also a properly set ratio of healthcare professionals. In the Czech Republic, the state, as the main guarantor of health care, applied strong control through price and volume control. The aim of the paper is to define the differences in the technical efficiency of public hospitals, with regard to the size of hospitals and partial types of human resources. An input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis model (DEA model) was chosen for modeling the technical efficiency of 47 public hospitals. The personnel performance concept of the evaluation of technical efficiency was further implemented in eight specific models, from the perspective of individual input variables relative to output variables and according to different assumptions regarding the character of economies of scale. The results of technical efficiency were analyzed using correlation, regression analysis, and the Bootstrap method. The least efficient hospitals in terms of hospital size are large hospitals, and the most balanced results have been achieved by medium-sized hospitals. The average efficiency rate in models that include all selected input and output variables is highest in medium-sized hospitals, with a value of 0.866 for CRS and an efficiency rate of 0.926 for VRS. The rationalization of human resources should be implemented in order not to reduce the quality of care provided.Web of Science189art. no. 471

Approximating the influence of external factors on the technical efficiency score of hospital care: evidence from the federal states of Germany

Background A good health care system and, especially, the provision of efficient hospital care are the goals of national and regional health policies. However, the scope of general hospital care in the 16 federal states in Germany varies considerably from region to region. The objectives of this paper are to evaluate the technical efficiencies of all general hospitals of the 16 federal states for the period from 2015 to 2020, to find out the relation between the exogenous factors and score of efficiency, and also the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the results of the technical efficiency of hospital care in the German states. Methods A two-step approach was used. First, an input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis model with constant returns to scale and variable returns to scale was applied for the 6-year period from 2015 to 2020. The calculation of technical efficiency according to the input-oriented DEA model contains the three components—total technical efficiency (TTE), pure technical efficiency (PTE) and scale efficiency (SE). In the second stage, the influence of exogenous variables on the previously determined technical efficiency was evaluated by applying the tobit regression analysis. Results Although the level of average technical efficiency of about 90% is high, total technical efficiency deteriorated steadily from 2015 to 2020. Its lowest point at around 78%, was in the year 2020. The deterioration of the average technical efficiency is notably influenced by the lower results in the years 2019 and 2020. The decomposition of technical efficiency also revealed that the deterioration of overall average efficiency was influenced by both pure technical efficiency (PTE) and scale efficiency (SE). Based on the tobit regression analysis performed, it was possible to conclude that the change in the efficiency score can be explained by the influence of exogenous factors only from 6.4% for overall efficiency and from 7.1% for scale efficiency. Conclusions The results of the analysis of the overall technical efficiency reveal that the aggregated data of all general hospitals of all 16 federal states show a steadily worsening total technical efficiency every year since 2015. Although, especially, the deterioration of the year 2020 with the occurrence of COVID-19 pandemic, contributes to a deteriorated efficiency average, the deterioration of the efficiency values, based on the analysis performed, is also observable between the years 2016 and 2019. Considering the output generated, for inefficient units and the relevant policy authorities in the hospital sector, it can be recommended that the number of beds and in particular the number of physicians, should be reduced as inputs. Based on this study, it is also recommended that decisions to increase the efficiency of general hospitals should be made with consideration of exogenous factors such as the change in the number of general hospitals or the population density in the respective state, as these had explanatory value in connection with the increase in efficiency values. Due to the wide variation in the size of the federal states, the recommendation is more appropriate for federal states with low population density.Web of Science131art. no.

Gaps in the dynamics and performance of the psychiatric care deinstitutionalization

This study objective to verify the existence of gaps in the dynamics and performance of fulfillment of the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care in the Czech Republic (CZ) and the Slovak Republic (SR) in the period between 2010 and 2020. The introduction of this the study is a search for expert knowledge in the field of deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care. The study uses the method of multi-criteria comparison of TOPSIS variants and a cluster analysis. The results 22 variants range from (ci 0.6716-0.2571) and confirm that there are large differences between CZ and SR in performance gaps (fulfillment) of deinstitutionalization goals. The SR variants are clearly better than the CZ variants, although during the years studied, the CZ variants are improving, and the size of the gap compared to the SR variants is decreasing. In the first year of the evaluated period (2010), the performance gap was 56% and in the last year (2020), the performance gap was only 31%. The conclusion of the study confirms that the measures associated with the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care are linked to the time they were introduced and the overall implementation period of the reform.Web of Science60art. no. 0046958023117072

Zhodnocení technické efektivnosti veřejných knihoven pomocí modelu Data Envelopment Analysis

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Models of static and dynamic technical efficiency of municipal libraries in the Czech Republic

This article deals with the modelling of the static and dynamic technical efficiency under conditions of municipal libraries of municipalities with 1000-5000 inhabitants. The aim of this article is to determine the level of the technical efficiency and the factors that influence the results of modelling of the static and dynamic technical efficiency of 34 selected municipal libraries for the years of 2011 and 2015. The first model tests the technical efficiency of conventional services of public libraries. The second model tests the technical efficiency of municipal libraries' operation. The third model tests the technical efficiency of the key revenues and expenditures. The results in the static models estimate the average technical efficiency of municipal libraries in the interval (0.691-0.759) for the input-oriented models, and in the interval (1.413-2.005) for the output-oriented models. In the dynamic models, the majority of municipal libraries in 2015 showed lower technical efficiency and productivity in comparison with the year of 2011. The factors influencing the level of efficiency and its course include the inputs and the outputs, and their combinations within individual models.Web of Science68art. no. UNSP 10064