Efficiency of Thai provincial public hospitals during the introduction of universal health coverage using capitation.

We investigate the impact of implementing capitated-based Universal Health Coverage (UC) in Thailand on technical efficiency in larger public hospitals during the policy transition period. We measure efficiency before and during the transition period of UC using a two-stage analysis with Data Envelopment Analysis, bootstrap DEA, and truncated regressions. Our analysis indicates that during the transition period efficiency in larger public hospitals across the country increased. The findings differed by region, and hospitals in provinces with more wealth not only started with greater efficiency, but improved their relative position during the transitional phases of the UC system.