Improving the Efficiency of a Public Health Service by Designing Its Innovation Management Structure Based on Data Envelopment Analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a proposal for Chile's health system innovation structure based on a formal service design approach, including management and process architecture definition. Such structure defines how to allocate innovation resources in the health system to increase its efficiency. It uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure hospitals' efficiency, which also determines the variables that explain such efficiency. Thus, the architecture uses the knowledge about hospitals' efficiency and their determinants to define innovation projects and assign financial resources for them. It also assures their implementation to increase the efficiency of the hospitals. DEA measurements show great improvement potential since only six of 40 hospitals had an efficiency value of 1.0. Some of the projects with the best improvement potential were implemented with very good results, summarized in the paper. The main contribution of this work is to formalize and enlarge the scope of the structural design of health services to generate improved results for users at a lower cost.

Evaluating Cardiac Surgeon Performance

“…In this paper, to illustrate how to evaluate cardiac surgery at the individual physician level, we explore the performance of CABG surgeons operating in Pennsylvania using historical data from 1994-95 and 2003-4. The research objective is to evaluate the performance and analyze the factors that explain performance using a methodology called Data Envelopment Analysis (Banker et al, 1984;Charnes et al, 1978;Charnes et al, 1994;Chilingerian, 1989;Chilingerian, 1995;Chilingerian & Sherman, 1990;Chilingerian & Sherman, 2011;Cooper et al, 2007;Zhu, 2000;Barros & Aguilera, 2022). To study cardiac surgeon performance, the theory-based mathematic called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used as a tool for health care policy makers and managers to measure and evaluate the relative performance of clinicians, clinics, and health care organizations.…”