Estimation of production function in hospitals of Qazvin University

Background: Implementation of economical analyses for optimal allocation and effective utilization of hospital resources is of prime importance. Objective: To estimate the production function of hospitals affiliated to Qazvin University of Medical Sciences during 1998-2004. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 4 university hospitals. The data were collected using information forms and further analyzed by SPSS software and regression method. Cobb-Douglas was the method of choice for production function in present study. Findings: The results indicated that the production elasticity of physicians, nurses, active beds and other personnel-associated factors were 0.55, 0.29, 0.81 and 0.73, respectively. Also, the marginal product rate of physicians, nurses, active beds and other personnel-associated factors were 114, 38.6, 54 and 37 patient admissions, respectively. The production function coefficient in target hospitals was 1.28 with an obvious economy of scale shown in our study. Conclusion: All production factors were in the economic region of production. Hence, increasing production factors except for physicians to boost total product and also decreasing product cost is recommended