Measuring the productivity growth and quality changes of teaching and non-teaching hospitals in Taiwan

The objective of this study was to compare productivity growth and quality changes in teaching and non-teaching hospitals in Taiwan using a quality-based Malmquist productivity index under a metafrontier framework. Researchers have argued that teaching hospitals are more costly than non-teaching hospitals. Whether Taiwanese teaching hospitals operate with higher productivity than non-teaching hospitals is important to determine given increasing financial pressure on hospitals. The results of this study show that, among the Taiwanese teaching and non-teaching hospitals in the study sample, both types of institutions increased in productivity and improved in quality from 2008 to 2014. However, non-teaching hospitals saw much greater positive developments in productivity and quality than teaching hospitals. Therefore, additional teaching and research duties may influence the performance of teaching hospitals in provision of direct patient care.