Title

Explaining The Efficiency Of Local Health Departments In The U.S.: An Exploratory Analysis

Keywords

Data envelopment analysis; Efficiency; Public health

Abstract

No study to date has analyzed the efficiency at which local health departments (LHDs) produce public health services. As a result, this study employs data envelopment analysis (DEA) to explore the relative technical efficiency of LHDs operating in the United States using 2005 data. The DEA indicates that the typical LHD operates with about 28% inefficiency although inefficiency runs as high as 69% for some LHDs. Multiple regression analysis reveals that more centralized and urban LHDs are less efficient at producing local public health services. The findings also suggest that efficiency is higher for LHDs that produce a greater variety of services internally and rely more on internal funding. However, because this is the first study of LHD efficiency and some shortcomings exist with the available data, we are reluctant to draw strong policy conclusions from the analysis. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Publication Date

11-2-2010

Publication Title

Health Care Management Science

Volume

13

Issue

4

Number of Pages

378-387

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-010-9136-5

Socpus ID

77958527990 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/77958527990

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