OBJECTIVES: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries’ healthcare system (HS), characterized by different institutional structures, may influence central health sector performance. This review aimed to evaluate healthcare performance (HP) across OECD countries by comparing and ranking (in 2008 and 2017) to identify best practices and highlight potential improvement in HS.

METHODS: Data was extracted from world bank and OECD stat database. We performed Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to rank countries relatively in 2008 and 2017 based on key health indicators- health expenditure, health status (perceived health status (PHS), life expectancy (LE)), healthcare resources (medical technology (MT), employment, hospitals) and health insurance. In PCA, weights were assigned to each indicator and a combined rank was obtained to compare HP across countries. Scenario analysis were conducted in both periods by omitting high tech medical equipment (HTME), LE and PHS one by one to describe the contribution of each health care indicator.

RESULTS: Ten out of 36 countries were included in the analysis based on data availability. Over 10 years, Korea demonstrated a striking HP in 2017 versus 2008. Italy retained its position at the second, but Austria experienced a downturn from first to third. Slovak Republic and Hungary showed weak HP while Greece and Ireland performed above average in both years. However, remaining countries did not exhibit any significant change in their rank over time.

As per scenario analysis, LE had the highest contribution in a country’s HP in 2008 but the impact of HTME overpowered in 2017. Within MT, magnetic resonance imaging was the most significant variable whereas radiation therapy equipment had lowest contribution in HP.

CONCLUSIONS: This analysis demonstrated cross-country heterogeneity in terms of healthcare indicators, with MT contributing the most to HP. It is important for healthcare regulatory bodies to consider these factors for efficient resource allocation.