Health Management Information Systems in Public Hospitals of Tamil Nadu, India: Productivity Analysis Using Malmquist Index

Abstract

The present study analyzes the changes in the total factor productivity index of a state's public district hospitals of India in the period from 2013 to 2017 with the purpose of identifying efficiency patterns for these public district hospitals after the implementation of Health Management Information System (HMIS). The output-based, Variable Return to Scale (VRS) Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Malmquist productivity index was used to estimate productivity change in 31 District Head Quarter Hospitals (DHQH) of Tamil Nadu, India. Results reveal the DHQH's efficiency trends and therefore, the influence of technology in their organizational functioning of transforming the resources (inputs) to perform their utilities (outputs). They also show the changes experienced in the DHQH's total productivity and its components namely, the technological change and efficiency change. Positive total productivity factor changes were due to positive technological efficiency change rather than technical efficiency change. The implementation of Health Management Information System (HMIS) as technology has certainly influenced the performance of DHQH's of Tamil Nadu over time, but it needs to build more administrative capabilities to show a significant increase in the productivity growth as a whole.