Public Health System Economic Efficiency and COVID-19 Resilience: Frontier DEA Analysis

Abstract

The article summarizes the arguments and counterarguments in the scholarly discussion about the problem of choosing a model of healthcare organization. The study’s primary goal was to identify the economic efficiency of the public health system and resistance to COVID-19. The relevance of addressing this research issue is that the epidemiological challenges posed by the pandemic worldwide have manifested themselves differently in various countries. Therefore, it is advisable to consider the effectiveness of public healthcare models and how they have worked out in the fight against COVID-19. Research in the work was carried out in the following logical sequence: conducting scientometric analysis of research, creation of a statistical research base for 22 countries of the world; construction of integral indices of the economic efficiency of the health care system; calculation of public health system resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic; application of frontier DEA analysis to determine system efficiency; comparison and analysis of the results of research on the economic efficiency of public health systems obtained by different methods. The article presents the results of a comparison of the economic efficiency of the public health system, which showed that the system built according to the Beveridge principle is the most resistant to the pandemic and, at the same time, has the highest indices of economic efficiency.