Assessing Hospital Performance by the Pabon Lasso Model

Abstract

Background: The Pabon Lasso model was  applied to assess the performance of six State-run hospitals in the province of Kohgilooyeh & Boyer-Ahmad, to produce information that used by policy makers in their attempt to make the health care sys­tem more productive.
Methods: This cross-sectional study involved all the six public hospitals in the province, with 607 registered beds. Data collec­tion accomplished by the use of two ad hoc questionnaires that dealt with both general information and admission data from various hospital wards. The statistical software SPSS-13 used to derive three basic performance indicators, namely aver­age length of stay, bed occupancy rate and bed turnover, which analyzed in Pabon Lasso model.
Results: The overall average length of stay, bed occupancy and bed turnover rates were 2.99 days, 62.78% and 76.73 respec­tively. Two hospitals were in Zone III of the model, indicating a satisfactory level of efficiency. Three hospitals demon­strated inefficiency and underutilization of resources by falling into Zone I. one hospital placed in Zone IV.
Conclusion: The best approach to address the existing inefficiencies would lie in stopping the expansion of the current facili­ties (e.g. not adding any more beds). As any further expansion will only serve to make hospitals more inefficient. Fu­ture research should focus on why the performance is not at a desirable level and how the situation can be improved.