Examination of differences in health indicators between efficient and inefficient countries

OBJECTIVE: This study determined whether there is a statistically significant difference between efficient and inefficient Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of health indicators using fuzzy data envelopment analysis (FDEA). METHODS: In the study, FDEA was performed with three input variables directly affecting health, four environmental factors considered to indirectly affect health, and two output variables. Literature research was used to determine appropriate variables. In FDEA, three different α-cut levels were used. The hypotheses regarding whether there was a statistically significant difference between efficient and inefficient countries in input and output variables were tested for all α-cut levels of upper bound efficiency values. RESULTS: In terms of health indicators, 17 countries were efficient at α-cut 0 and 0.5. At α-cut 1, 18 countries were efficient. There was only a statistically significant difference between the efficient and inefficient countries in “the number of physicians.” CONCLUSION: This study shows the number of physicians was the most important determinant affecting the efficiency of a country’s healthcare system. Inefficient countries had a greater mean for number of physicians. Thus, inefficient countries consume more resources than efficient ones.