EMPIRICAL TESTS OF THE VALIDITY OF THE OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS USED TO EVALUATE BRAZILIAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS

Abstract

This study analyses the behavior of revenues and total expenses of Brazilian University Hospitals (HUB in Portuguese) in relation to the variation of certain performance indicators used to evaluate such hospitals. Four hypotheses have been tested. The first one states that variation in total expenses can be explained by variation in the eleven performance indicators defined in the Planning and Management Forum (FORPLAD in Portuguese) of the Federal Higher Education Institutions. The second hypothesis maintains that variation in total expenses may be explained by size, built area and the number of undergraduate and graduate students. In the third and fourth hypotheses we have repeated the tests, replacing the dependent variable for HUB total revenues. The HUB information system database, for the period 1998-2002, was used for testing the four hypotheses, which covered 45 hospitals. We used log-linear regressions applied to panel data to comprise both temporal and crosssectional observations. The three types of specifications for data in panel, in respect to the regression constant term, were tested: pooled, fixed, and random effects. The findings have partially confirmed the first hypothesis, since only one of the eleven indicators proved statistically significant. The other three hypotheses lack confirmation. Keywords: University Hospitals. Performance Indicators. Expenses. Revenues.