Performance role models among public health facilities: An application of data envelopment analysis

ABSTRACT

Governments increased burden for health care provision demand that researchers devote resources to addressing the concern of stakeholders on the efficient utilization of health resources. This present study seeks to address the issue of efficiency in the hospitals subsector. The study based on data obtained on 29 public hospitals utilized data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology to identify the efficiency rating and role model or peers among hospitals operating in similar low-resource environment. Results of data analysis indicate that substantial degree of inefficiency exists in the health system with only 48.3% of the facilities being technically efficient. In addition, eight of the hospitals in the study qualify to serve as role models for others in order to improve on the overall performance of the hospital sector and maximize efficiency savings in the system. The study suggests detailed analysis of the characteristics, operation environment, and other attributes of the role model hospitals and the need to strengthen the link between performance and rewards. In addition, planning models that improve on the geographical distribution of the facilities need to be considered.

KEYWORDS:

• Hospitals
• peers
• role model
• data envelopment analysis
• efficiency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Abolaji Joachim Abiodun, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Business Administration, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. His research interests include Health Care Management, Operations Research and Business Policy.

Prof Kenneth Sola Adeyemi is in the Department of Accounting & Finance, Kwara State University, Ilorin. His research focus include Corporate Governance, Operations Research and Health Care Management.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Self-funded, no external funding.