Purpose: The objective of healthcare institutions is to utilize available resources efficiently without compromising the quality of service provided. Training and research hospitals differ from other healthcare institutions as they have training and research activities in addition to providing healthcare services. Therefore, quality and efficiency studies are important for these hospitals. This study aims to determine the effect of quality on efficiency by examining the efficiency of training and research hospitals in Türkiye.
Design/methodology/approach: Using the data of 59 training and research hospitals for the period 2016-2020, efficiency is examined with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models. Then, we apply panel regression analyses to examine the effects of quality on efficiency.
Findings: Although the hospital efficiency levels showed a stable horizontal course over the years, there was seen to be a dramatic decrease in 2020 with the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate of inefficient training and research at hospitals was high in all the years. There was no clear effect of quality on efficiency. In the 4 models established, there was determined to be a negative effect of patient satisfaction on efficiency in only one model.
Originality/value: Our research advocates for the development of tailored efficiency and quality measurement methods for these unique healthcare institutions. It is also one of the limited studies examining the relationship between quality and efficiency.
Keywords: Efficiency; Hospitals; Performance; Quality.
© Emerald Publishing Limited.