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
Copyright Status
Unknown
Socpus ID
77958527990 (Scopus)
Source API URL
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/77958527990
STARS Citation
Mukherjee, Kankana; Santerre, Rexford E.; and Zhang, Ning Jackie, "Explaining The Efficiency Of Local Health Departments In The U.S.: An Exploratory Analysis" (2010). Scopus Export 2010-2014. 102.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/scopus2010/102