ART - The Purchase of Technology in Health Organisations: An analysis of it's Impact on performance 2009

The PDF document discusses the decision-making process for purchasing medical technology in health organizations. The process involves a Purchase Proposal Group (PPG) that evaluates the costs and potential revenues of the investment. If the purchase request is approved by the PPG, it is then sent to General Management for acceptance or refusal. The document also describes a questionnaire used to study the decision process, which includes sections on the characteristics of the purchased equipment, motivations for the purchase, perceived achievements and constraints, and managerial goals. Additionally, the document presents the results of an efficiency analysis using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the technical efficiency of the units. The analysis is performed separately for units that produce both inpatient and outpatient care and units that only produce outpatient care. The results show that most units producing inpatient care are on the efficiency frontier, indicating high efficiency. However, units producing outpatient care exhibit more variation in efficiency levels. Furthermore, the document introduces the Malmquist Index, which is used to evaluate changes in efficiency over time. The Malmquist Index is calculated by comparing the efficiency of a unit at time t with the efficiency at time t+1, using the geometric mean of the original index by Caves, Christensen, and Diewert (1982). This index allows for the assessment of improvements or declines in efficiency over a period. In conclusion, the document provides insights into the decision-making process for purchasing medical technology in health organizations and presents an efficiency analysis using DEA. It also introduces the Malmquist Index as a tool for evaluating changes in efficiency over time.