Performance analyses of public hospitals in the estate of Bahia with different organization models an application of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method

Abstract

This study analyzes the performance of 16 public hospitals in the Estate of Bahia which are either organized based on the traditional public organizational model or an outsourcing model. The performance was evaluated by applying data envelopment analysis where first an efficiency frontier for the group of analyzed entities is calculated based on linear programming and second, for every hospital, its respective distance from the efficiency frontier for each factor analyzed is calculated. The data collection for this analysis was obtained through interviewing with a structured questionnaire. However, the quality of the collected data proved to be rather limited. Hence the results of the analysis should be seen as rather indicative how data envelopment analysis could be used to evaluate the performance of hospitals, than to drive conclusion on the performance of the respective hospital or organizational model. By applying data envelopment analysis, we were able to identify best practice hospitals within the analyzed group and to identify the dimensions underperforming hospitals may improve. A second intention was to analyze if one of the two organization models applied in the public hospitals in Bahia, the traditional public or outsourcing organization model differ in terms of efficiency. In concept, data envelopment may be helpful to identify such differences regarding performance, nevertheless, the analysis of the analyzed group of hospitals returned mixed results.