[Evaluation of productive efficiency in the Unified National Health System hospitals in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil].

This study evaluated the productive efficiency of 112 hospitals under the Unified National Health System (SUS) in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The objective was to verify which hospitals apply the available resources efficiently. The research was based on data from 2003 collected from the SUS Hospital Data System (SIH-SUS). Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was applied under the assumption of variable returns to scale. The study focused exclusively on general hospitals with similar characteristics in terms of size and specialization. The results identified 23 efficient hospitals and efficiency targets for each hospital. According to the empirical model, the number of hospitalizations with discharges could be increased by 15%. Application of an input reduction model would result in savings of 25% on human resources (physicians and nurse technicians), 17% on hospital beds, and 13% on admissions costs for the overall hospital system.