Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate the medical service efficiency in TCM hospitals and provide references for making relevant policies scientifically. Method: Data envelopment method and rank sum ratio method were used to evaluate the medical service efficiency in TCM hospitals from horizontal and vertical respects. Results: Evaluation results from vertical respect showed that the average comprehensive efficiency in TCM hospitals in 2006-2017 was 0.996. DEA was effective in 8 years, moderate effective in 3 years, and invalid in 1 year, accounting for 66.67%, 25.00% and 8.33% of the evaluation units, respectively. In addition, sorting and grading results of rank sum ratio method showed that the ranking of the evaluation results in 2006-2017 kept on growing. Evaluation results from horizontal respect showed that the average comprehensive efficiency of TCM hospitals in 30 provinces in 2017 was 0.851. DEA was effective in 7 provinces, moderate effective in 7 provinces, and invalid in 16 provinces, accounting for 23.33%, 23.33% and 76.66% of the evaluation units respectively. In addition, the rank sum ratio method can divide the medical service efficiency of TCM hospitals into upper, middle and lower grades. 5 provinces mainly concentrated in the eastern region were in the third (upper) grade, 20 provinces mainly concentrated in the central and western regions were in the second (middle) grade, and 5 provinces mainly concentrated in the western region were in the first (lower) grade. Conclusion: From vertical perspective, the overall medical service efficiency in TCM hospitals in 2006-2017 was good; from horizontal perspective, the overall medical service efficiency in TCM hospitals in 30 provinces wasn't high and the inter-provincial gap was obvious. Therefore, relevant departments should take effective measures to improve the medical service efficiency in TCM hospitals, including aspects like allocating medical and health resources rationally in TCM hospitals, increasing the proportion of TCM medical services insured, and enhancing the attraction of TCM hospitals to patients, etc.