Efficiency Evaluation of the Integrated Medical and Nursing Care Services in Beijing's Nursing Homes

Background The degree of aging in China is constantly deepening, and the demand for medical and nursing care services among residents is increasing day by day. Exploring how the integrated medical and nursing care services can develop efficiently with high quality is of great practical significance for actively responding to the aging population. Objective This study provided a reference for improving the service efficiency and optimizing resource allocation by analyzing the efficiency evaluation of the integrated medical and nursing care services in Beijing's nursing homes. Methods On-site survey of elderly care organisations in Beijing, May 2018. The output-oriented BCC model in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to evaluate the technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency, scale efficiency of the integrated medical and nursing care services of 62 nursing homes in Beijing. Input indicators: number of institutional beds, number of medical staff, number of elderly caregivers (carers). Output indicators: number of totally disabled/severely impaired elderly, number of partially disabled/mildly impaired elderly, and number of self-care elderly. Results It is found that in the technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency, and scale efficiency of 62 nursing homes in Beijing, the proportion of DEA effective unit is 12.903%, 35.484% and 12.903% respectively. The average values of technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency are 0.599, 0.788 and 0.760 respectively. Among them, 12.903% of nursing homes are in the state of constant returns to scale, 70.968% are in the state of decreasing returns to scale, and 16.129% are in the state of increasing returns to scale. Conclusion The overall service efficiency of nursing homes in Beijing is low, and there are phenomena of resource waste and mismatch between supply and demand. It is suggested that nursing homes should scientifically locate the target group, provide accurate services, reasonably calculate the input capacity, and promote service cooperation between the hospital and the nursing home. The government should continue to implement the further implementation of relevant support policies.