Benchmarking for productivity improvement: A health-care application

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ackerberg, DA; Machado, MP; Riordan, MH
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Columbia University
• 刊物名称: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0020-6598
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2354.2006.00376.x
• 发表日期: 2006
• 页码: 161-201
• 关键词: duration; IMPACT; MODEL

摘要

A methodology is developed and applied to compare the performance of publicly funded agencies providing treatment for alcohol abuse in Maine. The methodology estimates a Wiener process that determines the duration of completed treatments, while allowing for agency differences in the effectiveness of treatment, costs of treatment, standards for completion of treatment, patient attrition, and the characteristics of patient populations. Notably, the Wiener process model separately identifies agency fixed effects that describe differences in the effectiveness of treatment (treatment effects), and effects that describe differences in the unobservable characteristics of patients (population effects). The estimated model enables hypothetical comparisons of how different agencies would treat the same populations. The policy experiment of transferring the treatment practices of more cost-effective agencies suggests that Maine could have significantly reduced treatment costs without compromising health outcomes by identifying and transferring best practices.