Importance of considering quality indicators in primary healthcare. Application of a two-stage cluster analysis.

Dr. Ana Luisa Godoy Caballero; Dr. Luis Regino Murillo Zamorano

Dr. Ana Luisa Godoy Caballero Faculty of Business,
Dr. Luis Regino Murillo Zamorano Faculty of Business.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency and quality of primary healthcare in
Extremadura (Spain), assessing at the same time the importance and influence of the quality
indicators in the performance of the health units. This analysis considers a series of quality
indicators that may affect the efficiency and activity levels of a series of primary care centres.
We build different synthetic indices of quantitative output; output adjusted by quality; input,
and costs, applying Principal Component Analysis. Using those indices we run several two‐stage
cluster analyses. In a first analysis, the output of the health system is obtained from a strictly
quantitative point of view and compared to the levels of inputs and costs. In a second analysis,
we include an output adjusted by quality to perform such a comparison. The health units in
which the region is organised can be clustered in four levels of efficiency and activity: efficient‐
active, efficient‐inactive, inefficient‐active and inefficient-inactive. The comparison of both
analyses highlights the importance of considering qualitative indicators as they substantially
influence the efficiency and activity levels of the different primary healthcare centres

Author Biographies

Dr. Ana Luisa Godoy Caballero, Faculty of Business,

Department of Economics.
Finance and Tourism. University of Extremadura, 10071, Cáceres, Spain

Dr. Luis Regino Murillo Zamorano, Faculty of Business.

Department of Economics.
University of Extremadura, 06006, Badajoz, Spain

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