A Critique and Bibliometric Analysis of The Studies on Health System Effectiveness

Abstract

This study extensively examines the literature on the evaluation and measurement of the performance of healthcare systems. It has been determined that various methods and criteria are used for evaluating healthcare systems in the literature, and these evaluations generally rely on inputs such as healthcare expenditures, sociodemographic structure, healthcare facilities, and personnel numbers. Methods like Data Envelopment Analysis are frequently used, and it has been observed that the most intensive period of evaluation studies is between 2020 and 2024. Due to the use of different evaluation criteria and methods in studies, it has been found that the rankings of the most successful countries also vary. This indicates that publication bias and the input parameters used can influence evaluation results. The findings suggest that further research is needed for a more accurate assessment of healthcare system performance and the establishment of a platform involving all healthcare systems globally. Additionally, the bibliometric analysis of the study reveals which countries are focusing on studies related to healthcare system performance and which topics are being researched more. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration and knowledge sharing among countries. Adopting a more comprehensive and multidimensional approach to evaluating healthcare systems, determining standardized evaluation criteria, and using different methods together to obtain more robust results are recommended. Implementing these recommendations will contribute to more accurately measuring and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare systems.