Data envelopment analysis helps determining which of hospitals have better relative performance and which could improve the use of resources. Theobjectiveistoanalyzethehospitalstechnicalefficiency in Costa Rica. Data for 2012-2013 of 23 general publichospitals come from Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. We use data envelopmentanalysisto determine theefficiency of Costa RicanPublicHospitals. We use two inputs: spendinghospitalization and hospital bed and three outputs: case mix adjusted hospital discharges, FunctionalIndex and adjusted in hospital mortalityindex. Theefficiencylevelvariessubstantiallyamongthe 23 hospitalsanalyzed. In 2013, 30% of hospitalsweretechnicallyefficient, thissituationimprovedcomparedto 2012. Thisworkis a firstapproachtheanalysis of efficiency of publichospitals in Costa Rica. Aneffortwasmadetostandardizethe data, adjustingthe variables toconsiderthe case mix and risk of cases in each hospital, so thatresults are comparable between centers of varyingsize and complexity. In conclusion, DEA results show that 70% of hospitals can improvethe use of resources.

benchmarking; Global technical efficiency; data envelopment analysis; productivity; hospital mortality; benchmarking; hospital activity; Costa Rica