TY - JOUR
T1 - Estimating the scope for savings in referrals and drug prescription costs in the general Practice units of a UK primary care trust
AU - Thanassoulis, Emmanuel
AU - Silva Portela, Maria C.A.
AU - Graveney, Michael
PY - 2012/9/1
Y1 - 2012/9/1
N2 - This paper explores the potential for cost savings in the general Practice units of a Primary Care Trust (PCT) in the UK. We have used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to identify benchmark Practices, which offer the lowest aggregate referral and drugs costs controlling for the number, age, gender, and deprivation level of the patients registered with each Practice. For the remaining, non-benchmark Practices, estimates of the potential for savings on referral and drug costs were obtained. Such savings could be delivered through a combination of the following actions: (i) reducing the levels of referrals and prescriptions without affecting their mix (£15.74 m savings were identified, representing 6.4% of total expenditure); (ii) switching between inpatient and outpatient referrals and/or drug treatment to exploit differences in their unit costs (£10.61 m savings were identified, representing 4.3% of total expenditure); (iii) seeking a different profile of referral and drug unit costs (£11.81 m savings were identified, representing 4.8% of total expenditure).
AB - This paper explores the potential for cost savings in the general Practice units of a Primary Care Trust (PCT) in the UK. We have used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to identify benchmark Practices, which offer the lowest aggregate referral and drugs costs controlling for the number, age, gender, and deprivation level of the patients registered with each Practice. For the remaining, non-benchmark Practices, estimates of the potential for savings on referral and drug costs were obtained. Such savings could be delivered through a combination of the following actions: (i) reducing the levels of referrals and prescriptions without affecting their mix (£15.74 m savings were identified, representing 6.4% of total expenditure); (ii) switching between inpatient and outpatient referrals and/or drug treatment to exploit differences in their unit costs (£10.61 m savings were identified, representing 4.3% of total expenditure); (iii) seeking a different profile of referral and drug unit costs (£11.81 m savings were identified, representing 4.8% of total expenditure).
KW - cost efficiency
KW - price efficiency
KW - data envelopment analysis
KW - primary health care
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84861097514&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ejor.2012.03.035
DO - 10.1016/j.ejor.2012.03.035
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84861097514
SN - 0377-2217
VL - 221
SP - 432
EP - 444
JO - European Journal of Operational Research
JF - European Journal of Operational Research
IS - 2
ER -