[Data envelopment analysis: its use to assess efficiency of hospital preventive medicine services of Andalusia]

Abstract

Background: The evaluation of hospital units efficiency is a major matter of health services management. Among the techniques to measure efficiency. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) can be used in multiple resources units (inputs) obtaining multiple products (outputs). The objective of this study is the evaluation of Hospital Preventive Medicine Services in Andalucia, using the technique DEA.

Methods: The Preventive Medicine Services from seven hospitals of Andalucia were selected. DEA is technique, based on a linear programming, which finds the weights, which make a Service efficient in relation with the rest. The relative efficiency of seven units was calculated. The unit with the best practice was found by means of cross efficiency matrixes. With regard to the inefficient services, their necessity of increasing activities to achieve efficiency was identified.

Results: Two efficiency assumptions were elaborated. In the first one, 4 services were efficient (Efficiency = 1) in relation with the rest. In the second one, the Service S.1 was inefficient. Among the efficient units, S.2 shown the highest average efficiency in both assumptions and appeared as the reference unit for all the inefficient ones.

Conclusions: In the evaluation of Preventive Medicine Services efficiency, at least, three of them shown some kind of inefficiency. The Service S.2 was the point of reference for inputs and outputs selected.