# Dynamic evolution of utilization efficiency of medical and health services in China

## TL;DR

This study analyzed how efficiently China's provinces used medical and health services from 2010 to 2020, finding improvements and regional patterns.

## Contribution

The study introduces a dynamic spatial analysis of medical service efficiency across China's regions over a decade.

## Key findings

- Average efficiency in 31 provinces exceeded 0.8, with improvements in all regions.
- Eastern and central regions showed higher efficiency increases compared to western and northeastern regions.
- Spatial clustering revealed a northeast-to-southwest pattern in efficiency distribution.

## Abstract

In order to optimize the Chinese medical and health system and improve people’s health level, the SFA Malmquist model, the spatial econometric model, and the standard deviation ellipse method were used to measure the efficiency of medical and health services in China’s 31 provinces between 2010 and 2020. Study results indicated that the average efficiency value of the 31 provinces generally exceeded 0.8. Specifically, the average efficiency values in the eastern and central regions increased from 0.852 to 0.875 and from 0.858 to 0.88, respectively. In the western and northeastern regions, these values rose from 0.804 to 0.835 and from 0.827 to 0.854, respectively. From the perspective of spatial distribution, there were high-high and low-low clusters in most provinces with significant spatial dependence among them. This analysis reveals that medical and health services efficiency in China demonstrates a spatial pattern extending from northeast to southwest.