Healthcare systems and performance evaluation: comparison of performance indicators in V4 countries using models of composite indicators

Healthcare systems play a very important role in society and their role is becoming increasingly important in regard to the phenomenon of population ageing. The issue of the performance of healthcare systems should be at the forefront in terms of the interest of academic research studies and discussions among the scientifi c community. The proper functioning of the healthcare system should also be a priority in regard to public policy. These facts should encourage governments to regularly evaluate the performance of their healthcare systems and create international comparisons. Many indicators are used to measure and evaluate performance of healthcare systems – e.g. those created by the WHO, Eurostat, or OECD Health Statistics and OECD Health Policy Studies. For our paper, data from the OECD Health Policy Studies was used as a primary source. V4 states were chosen for the evaluation of the performance of healthcare systems. The reasons for this are as follows: V4 countries are transitive economies of the CEE with a poorer state of health of their populations than in more developed countries of the OECD or EU; the given systems have long been underfi nanced; and reforms are focused exclusively on economic goals and lack a broader concept in terms of long-term sustainability. For the purposes of this paper, a composite indicator of the performance of healthcare systems was designed and includes ten variables for the studied ten-year period. In order to establish a comparison of the performance of healthcare systems, three methods were used to model them: (i) using the area of a radar chart, (ii) determining performance based on order, and (iii) determining performance based on distance from the reference unit. These three methods for determining the performance of healthcare systems allow us to compare the performance of healthcare systems in V4 countries specifi cally. The goals of this paper are as follows: compare and evaluate the performance of healthcare systems among V4 countries using selected indicators from the fi eld of healthcare and establish what position the Czech Republic’s healthcare system holds in comparison with other V4 countries