ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1499134
An Analysis of Operational Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors in Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospitals in Shaanxi Province, China
Provisionally accepted
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China
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Background: Over the past decade, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals in China have experienced significant growth. However, their developmental status remains unclear, posing challenges to the formulation and optimization of relevant healthcare policies. This study aimed to assess the operational efficiency of TCM hospitals in Shaanxi Province and explore its influencing factors, thereby providing empirical evidence to support performance improvement.Methods: A total of 167 TCM hospitals in Shaanxi Province were included in this study. The Bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis (Bootstrap-DEA) was utilized to calculate bias-corrected operational efficiency scores. Subsequently, Tobit regression analysis was used to identify significant determinants of efficiency, offering a comprehensive understanding of influencing factors.Results: After bias-correction, operational efficiency scores decreased across all hospitals. Tertiary hospitals had the highest mean operational efficiency score (0.457), followed by secondary hospitals (0.374), unclassified hospitals (0.354), and primary hospitals (0.329). Tobit regression indicated that the total number of visits, number of discharged patients, and bed occupancy rate positively influenced efficiency scores (P < 0.05), whereas number of employees and average length of stay had a negative impact (P < 0.05).The development of TCM hospitals in Shaanxi Province remains uneven, and overall operational efficiency is suboptimal. Enhancing efficiency requires targeted strategies, such as optimizing staffing levels, reducing the average length of stay, and improving bed utilization. These findings offer practical insights for policymakers to support the sustainable development of TCM hospitals.
Keywords: Bootstrap DEA model, tobit model, hospital of traditional Chinese medi cine, Technical efficiency, Operational efficiency, Healthcare Management
Received: 18 Oct 2024; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Li, Qu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jieming Zhang, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, Shaanxi Province, China
Penggang Chen, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, Shaanxi Province, China
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