Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study.
Despite the evidence of links between health expenditure and health care efficiency, it is still unclear why countries with similar levels of health expenditures experience different outputs in terms of life expectancy at birth. Health care system efficiency might shed some light on the question. Us...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253450&type=printable |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850025533523361792 |
|---|---|
| author | Virginia Zarulli Elizaveta Sopina Veronica Toffolutti Adam Lenart |
| author_facet | Virginia Zarulli Elizaveta Sopina Veronica Toffolutti Adam Lenart |
| author_sort | Virginia Zarulli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite the evidence of links between health expenditure and health care efficiency, it is still unclear why countries with similar levels of health expenditures experience different outputs in terms of life expectancy at birth. Health care system efficiency might shed some light on the question. Using output-oriented data envelopment analysis, we compared the health systems of 140 countries in terms of attained life expectancy. Efficiency is determined by the distance from the closest country on the best practice frontier, which identifies the highest attainable life expectancy observed for any given level of health care spending. By using national data form the Human Development Data, we built the efficiency frontier and computed the potential life expectancy increase for each country. The potential improvement was, on average, 5.47 years [95%CI: 4.71-6.27 years]. The least efficient countries (10th percentile of the efficiency score) could improve by 11.78 years, while the most efficient countries (90th percentile of the efficiency score) could only improve by 0.83 years. We then analyzed, with regression analysis stratified by average education level, and by the role of health-related variables in differentiating efficient and inefficient countries from each other. The results suggest that, among countries with lower levels of education, decreasing unemployment and income inequality increases average life expectancy, without increasing health expenditure levels. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d6504d44c5d14756a7b7cd1c7822d1e0 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-d6504d44c5d14756a7b7cd1c7822d1e02025-08-20T03:00:49ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01167e025345010.1371/journal.pone.0253450Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study.Virginia ZarulliElizaveta SopinaVeronica ToffoluttiAdam LenartDespite the evidence of links between health expenditure and health care efficiency, it is still unclear why countries with similar levels of health expenditures experience different outputs in terms of life expectancy at birth. Health care system efficiency might shed some light on the question. Using output-oriented data envelopment analysis, we compared the health systems of 140 countries in terms of attained life expectancy. Efficiency is determined by the distance from the closest country on the best practice frontier, which identifies the highest attainable life expectancy observed for any given level of health care spending. By using national data form the Human Development Data, we built the efficiency frontier and computed the potential life expectancy increase for each country. The potential improvement was, on average, 5.47 years [95%CI: 4.71-6.27 years]. The least efficient countries (10th percentile of the efficiency score) could improve by 11.78 years, while the most efficient countries (90th percentile of the efficiency score) could only improve by 0.83 years. We then analyzed, with regression analysis stratified by average education level, and by the role of health-related variables in differentiating efficient and inefficient countries from each other. The results suggest that, among countries with lower levels of education, decreasing unemployment and income inequality increases average life expectancy, without increasing health expenditure levels.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253450&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Virginia Zarulli Elizaveta Sopina Veronica Toffolutti Adam Lenart Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study. PLoS ONE |
| title | Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study. |
| title_full | Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study. |
| title_fullStr | Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study. |
| title_short | Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study. |
| title_sort | health care system efficiency and life expectancy a 140 country study |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253450&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT virginiazarulli healthcaresystemefficiencyandlifeexpectancya140countrystudy AT elizavetasopina healthcaresystemefficiencyandlifeexpectancya140countrystudy AT veronicatoffolutti healthcaresystemefficiencyandlifeexpectancya140countrystudy AT adamlenart healthcaresystemefficiencyandlifeexpectancya140countrystudy |