District hospitals in Tanzania are critical for delivering primary healthcare services to rural communities. A multilevel regression model was employed to analyse data from Tanzanian district hospitals, accounting for both individual patient-level characteristics and hospital-level factors. The analysis revealed that increasing investment in infrastructure at the hospital level significantly reduced treatment costs without compromising quality of care (Slope = -0.75, SE = 0.12, p < 0.01). Multilevel regression models provide a robust framework for evaluating cost-effectiveness in healthcare systems. District hospitals should prioritise investment in infrastructure to optimise resource allocation and improve patient outcomes.
Chituwo et al. (Sat,) studied this question.