Evaluation of hospital efficiency

Research background: Assessing the effectiveness and performance of decision-making units is important due to the constantly changing environment. Decision-making units must be able to assess their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and use them to predict their future situation. Hospitals are among such decisionmaking units. Understanding of hospitals' financial performance and the ability to address issues promptly can improve both their sustainability and competitiveness. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to analyze the efficiency of 11 large hospitals in the Slovak Republic using the data envelopment analysis. Methods: When calculating the efficiency of large Slovak hospitals, two-stage data envelopment analysis was used in variants: inputoriented data envelopment analysis with constant returns to scale, output-oriented data envelopment analysis with constant returns to scale, input-oriented data envelopment analysis with variable returns to scale, and output-oriented data envelopment analysis with variable returns to scale. The efficiency of selected large hospitals in the Slovak Republic was analyzed using data from two years, 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2023 (after the COVID-19 pandemic). Findings & Value added: Based on the analysis, Louis Pasteur University Hospital Kosice is among the least efficient large hospitals. Among the most efficient large hospitals are F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital with Polyclinic Banska Bystrica and Central Military Hospital – Teaching Hospital Ruzomberok. The presented results can provide valuable information for the financial and medical management of healthcare facilities across the entire healthcare sector in Slovakia.