More medical resources do not imply better quality of life : A population- based study in Taiwan

Abstract

Studies regarding medical resources input-output (I/O) efficiencies gained increasing importance in recent years. Most of published studies measure medical resources I/O efficiencies of hospitals or clinics, however, very limited number of studies investigating nation-wide medical resources I/O efficiencies. Besides, there was also very limited number of studies using population data of quality of life (QOL) as an outcome variable. The aim of this study was to investigate nation-wide medical resources I/O efficiencies of Taiwan, by using national medical service volumes statistics as input variables and population QOL as outcome variables. The population QOL data were from 2005 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the national medical service volumes statistics were from 2005 National Statistics of Health Care Providers and Medical Services, which were issued by Department of Health in Taiwan. The population QOL was measured by SF-36. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) method was used to investigate the medical resources I/O efficiencies. Twenty three cities and counties of Taiwan were regarded as decision making units (DMUs). The results showed that 40% of cities and counties achieved efficiency regarding health care resources allocation. The results showed that the Tai-Nan city (an emerging high-tech city) and the Taiwan capital, Taipei City, were the two lowest QOL DMU. In summary, cities with high tech development and with more medical resources are not necessarily the cities with better quality of life.