Application of multiple-attribute decision making model to measure hospital efficiency

¯Abstract Background: During recent years, the cost of hospital services is increased in most countries and in spite of greater volume of resources devoted to hospitals, the ineffective management of hospitals has led to wasting of resources, hence, the measurement of hospitals efficiency or comparing between the input and output in such organizations is of special importance. Objective: Comparing between two methods, Ratio analysis and Multiple-Attribute Decision Making model (MADM) to estimate the hospital efficiency. Methods: This was a descriptive analytical study carried out in 1998. The efficiency of 5 general hospitals affiliated to social security organization in Tehran province was compared using two methods named as “Ratio” and “MADM”. Findings: The results of this study showed that all hospital under investigation were facing problem with proper use of their inputs (beds) from a scale efficiency point of view. Regarding the technical efficiency, 3 out of 5 hospitals were involved in shortage of personnel. Conclusion: Our data shows that, the Ratio method, due to some limitations in simultaneous use of quality and quantitative criteria, is incapable to measure hospital efficiency and providing a final conclusion by which the establishment of a ranking system to compare hospital efficiency could be made.