An application of PCA-DEA with the double-bootstrap approach to estimate the technical efficiency of New Zealand District Health Boards

Using yearly panel data from 2011 to 2017 on New Zealand District Health Boards (DHBs), this study combines principal component analysis and data envelopment intertemporal analysis with the double-bootstrap approach to estimate the technical efficiency of health care providers along with the trend of efficiency performances. The results show that although most large DHBs have improved their level of technical efficiency between 2011 and 2017, the majority of medium- and small-sized DHBs have not seen any noticeable improvement in their level of technical efficiency. The results also show that large and tertiary DHBs operate at a high level of technical efficiency. In contrast, most of the medium- and small-sized DHBs posted some of the lowest technical efficiency scores. Furthermore, the results show that medium- and small-sized DHBs have a higher average length of hospital stays which is found to be associated with decreasing levels of technical efficiency scores.