The efficiency of residential long-term care facilities at the municipality level in South Korea: Implications for local government care services

Abstract

The number of long-term care (LTC) facilities in South Korea has doubled over the last decade as a result of the rapidly aging population and the enactment of national public LTC insurance in 2008. However, few recent studies have examined the efficiency of LTC facilities, and even fewer have investigated the impact of operational and community-related factors on their efficiency. Using Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA), this study examined the efficiencyof LTC facilities and related factors in 229 municipalities in South Korea. The results showed that a greater number of facilities within a municipality(CCR: β = -0.37, p = .000; BCC:β = -0.19, p =.01) and a higher proportion of expenses spent on care for patients with severe illnesses(CCR: β = -0.32, p = .000; BCC: β = -0.32, p = .000 ) were associated with a lower level of efficiency. The findings suggest that policies promoting the efficiency and sustainability of LTC facilities need to take medical fees for severely ill patients and the number of competitive facilities within a municipality into consideration.