The value of comparative research in major day surgery.

OBJECTIVE To measure time trends in major day surgery rates according to hospital ownership and other hospital characteristics among the providers of the public healthcare network of Catalonia, Spain. METHOD Data from the Statistics of Health Establishments providing Inpatient Care. A generalized linear mixed model with Gaussian response and random intercept and random slopes. RESULTS The greatest growth in the rate of major day surgery was observed among private for-profit hospitals: 42.9 (SD: 22.5) in 2009 versus 2.7 (SD: 6.7) in 1996. These hospitals exhibited a significant increase in major day surgery compared to public hospitals (coefficient 2; p-value <0.01) CONCLUSIONS: The comparative evaluation of hospital performance is a decisive tool to ensure that public resources are used as rationally and efficiently as possible.